MARSHALL-  KELLY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  DIEGO 


3  1822  02584  2246 


i 


LIBRARY    ^ 

UNIVERSITY  OP 
CALIFORNIA 
SAN  DIEGO  i 


3  1822  02584  2246 


LONDON   BOOK   CO. 
224   West    Broadway 
Glendale,  Calif.     91204 
Ci.  4-0828 


CARLYLE  AND   THE   WAR 


Carlyle  and  the  War 


BY 

MARSHALL  KELLY 


CHICAGO 

OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING  CO. 
1916 


Copyright,  1915,  by 
MARSHALL  KELLY 


PREFACE 

If,  as  was  my  wish  and  endeavour,  this  book  had  been  pub- 
lished in  England,  I  should  have  written  no  Preface  to  it. 
Now,  however,  in  putting  it  before  the  American  public, 
some  word  of  preface  does  seem  desirable. 

For  the  title,  'Carlyle  and  the  War,'  this,  to  thoughtful 
readers,  should  at  once  be  sufficiently  significant.  But 
these  readers  will  know  too  well  how  lamentably  ignorant 
of  Carlyle  the  general  public  is;  and  they  must  have  con- 
stantly reflected  how  impossible  it  would  have  been  for 
the  delirious  defamation  of  the  German,  which  now  stuns 
every  ear,  to  have  again  found  credence  had  his  words 
been  hearkened  to.  Carlyle  was  the  greatest  man  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  And  he  knew  Germany,  German  char- 
acter, and  German  history,  as  no  other  Briton  has  ever 
done;  in  his  'History  of  Frederick  the  Great,'  especially, 
rendered  such  True  Report  thereof,  as  it  is  indeed  some- 
thing more  than  lamentable  should  be  so  little  known  or 
remembered,  as  it  is  altogether  disgraceful  to  the  American, 
as  well  as  to  the  Briton,  who  attempts  to  judge  of  these 
matters,  that  he  is  not  familiar  with.  For  each  present 
Event  is  but  a  part  of  the  Past  and  of  the  Future;  and 
this  "War  is  no  accidental  eddy,  but  very  evidently  an 
issue  of  the  great  world-currents. 

Nor  is  it  only,  or  even  mainly,  in  regard  to  Germany 
that  Carlyle 's  life  and  teaching  is  of  such  importance 
here.  Quite  as  much  in  the  Democracy  issue:  Wherein 
he  so  nobly  upheld  what  is  verily  priceless  in  Democracy, 
even  as  he  banned  wljat  is  vicious. 


vi  PREFACE 

But,  above  all  that,  Carlyle  was  one  of  those  Seers  who 
are  for  all  time  and  all  men;  who  taught  and  exemplified 
the  imperishable  moral  grandeurs  of  man's  soul  and  his 
eternal  duties.  He  lived  in  what,  in  the  sorrow  of  his  heart, 
he  deliberately  named  the  Latter  Days  of  England,  her 
'penultimate  ages,  or  times  immediately  before  the  last'; 
wherein  he  warned  her  that,  if  she  did  not  repent  and  turn 
from  the  course  she  was  on,  nothing  save  destruction  could 
lie  before  her.  England  has  not  repented,  nor  turned 
from  the  course  she  was  on.  Neither  merely  continued 
on  it;  but,  in  the  height  of  a  blind  and  prideful  enmity, 
has  turned  to  wreck  herself  upon  the  Nation  he  revealed 
the  natural  peer  of  whatsoever  was  noblest  and  best  in 
herself.  And,  in  the  fateful  days  we  live  in,  Carlyle 's 
words  come  home  again  to  us  as  those  of  a  man  once  more 
sent  of  heaven  to  a  People  wedded  to  delusion,  with  the 
offer  of  redemption  to  them:  "Whose  words  must  remain 
for  the  world,  though  the  People,  as  usual,  would  not  hear. 

I 

I,  who  here  speak  to  you,  am  a  Briton,  long  confessedly 

a  follower  of  Carlyle 's.  And,  in  looking  at  the  Present 
with  my  own  eyes,  giving  such  account  of  it  as  able,  I 
have  referred  to  him  where  the  Past  is  concerned ;  largely, 
also,  appealed  for  Justice  in  his  name,  and  called  on  the 
alone  real  aristoi  of  Britain  to  rouse  themselves,  if  they 
would  not  see  their  country  consummate  iniquity  beyond 
all  hope. 

The  non-British  reader  will  do  well  to  remember  that 
I  wrote  primarily  to  Britons  and  for  Britain;  that,  had 
it  been  otherwise,  the  manner  of  my  address  would  have 
been  different.  Since  a  man  may  speak  to  his  fellow  coun- 
trymen as  he  would  not  of  them,  much  less  at  them.  I 
am  sensible,  too,  that  there  is  some  change  in  this  respect 
toward  the  latter  part  of  the  book.     Namely,  that  when 


PEEFACE  yii 

it  became  apparent  to  me  that  British  popular  obsession 
had  reached  such  a  depth,  it  was  only  in  America  I  could 
hope  for  a  hearing.  I  gradually,  without  thinking  of  it, 
wrote  more  to  the  American,  less  to  the  Briton. 

For  the  Briton,  I  repeat,  I  have  no  explanation  to 
offer:  He  may  take  the  book  as  it  stands,  and  make  of 
it  what  he  can.  In  other  words:  He,  if  not  possessed 
with  the  mob 's  fanaticism,  will  need  no  explanation ;  whilst, 
if  so  possessed,  he  will  listen  to  none. 

The  American  is  supposedly  neutral.  Now,  in  the  cur- 
rent dialect,  this  Neutral  covers  with  a  gentle  forgiveness 
whatsoever  damns  the  German,  yet  finds  whatsoever  speaks 
well  of  him,  condemns  the  British,  too  partisan  for  Yankees' 
equity  to  relish:  I  am  afraid  I  cannot  help  this  sort  of 
American  either;  have  little  respect  for  the  'dispassion- 
ate' pleadings  pleasing  to  one  who  so  levels  at  the  truth. 

There  are  Americans  of  another  sort.  And  I  can  well 
believe  that  some  of  these  may  wish  that  I  had  written 
in  a  different  tone.  It  is  just  admitted  that,  if  American, 
I  had  done  so.  No  word  here  was  written  in  any  wish 
to  stir  up  American  feeling  against  England:  I  have 
never,  either,  reckoned  that  there  was  any  peril  in  that 
direction.  America's  danger  has  been,  and  is,  to  plunge 
into  a  war  she  has  no  call  to  take  part  in  from  Anti- German 
bias.  I  have  written  simply  to  try  to  make  the  truth  more 
evident;  and,  if  this  involve  the  declaring  of  guilt,  and 
terrible  guilt,  in  the  British,  I  cannot  help  it,  Gentlemen. 

Among  the  German-Americans,  and  German  sympa- 
thisers in  America,  there  is  one  point  of  view  very  preva- 
lent just  now,  which  is  perhaps  natural  and  pardonable, 
yet  surely  very  erroneous.  I  mean  that  of  looking  upon 
Sir  Edward  Grey  as  chief  author  of  the  war,  and  a  sort 


viii  PREFACE 

of  surpassing  Iago,  who,  at  every  step,  purposefully  plotted 
for  war,  and  had  the  diabolical  satisfaction  of  seeing  all 
the  puppets  dance  according  to  his  prearranged  programme. 
A  simple  enough  seeming  case  can  thus  be  made  out;  but, 
truly,  one  only  suitable  for  the  nurseries.  We  have  to 
do  with  actual  flesh  and  blood;  and  these  arch-fiends, 
with  their  super-human  foreknowledges  and  cunning  which 
makes  mere  mortal  shudder,  are  creatures  of  the  fancy. 
Neither  is  it  by  any  means  a  simple  case,  but  a  highly  com- 
plex! To  be  studied  and  meditated  with  earnestness  and 
in  a  wide  humanity,  would  we  really  see  anything  of  it 
at  all. 

Briton,  Prank  and  Russ,  with  all  the  world  to  help,  and 
damn  the  German  cur,  is  the  Mob-cry  of  the  hour.  But 
Briton  with  German  had  been  a  better  bond  for  peace  in 
Europe;  and,  if  America  is  ever  to  be  a  Mediator,  she 
will  need  to  cease  her  swelling  of  that  Mob-cry.  Will  need 
to  search  a  little  for  the  Almighty's  justice:  Whose  judg- 
ments are,  for  certain,  abroad  in  the  world  to-day  as  of 
yore. 

Marshall  Kelly. 

August,  1915. 


CONTENTS 


Proem 
I.     Concert  of  Europe  . 
II.     Ostensible    Causes  . 

III.  Balance  of  Power    . 

IV.  Systems  of  Alliances 
V.    The  Combination  Against  Germany 

VI.    Real  Causes 

Preliminary   . 

1.  Trial  of  Strength 
la.  Militarism  . 

2.  Democracy  versus  Autocracy 
2a.  German  Kaiser:  British  King 
2b.  The  Liberal  Ministry 
2c.  Carlyle      .... 

3.  Mendacity  versus  Veracity  . 
3a.  Common  Guilt  of  People 
3b.  Dubieties  and  Certainties 

VII.    Issues 

Conclusion 

Summaries 


PAGE 

1-  10 

11-  22 

23-  56 

57-  73 

75-  95 

97-121 

123-299 

125-131 

131-159 

159-170 

171-183 

183-224 

224-254 

254-262 

262-283 

283-295 

295-299 

301-327 

327 

329 


PROEM 


CARLYLE  AND  THE  WAR 


PROEM 

It  is  loudly  asseverated  that  the  British  Empire  is  of  one 
mind  in  regard  to  this  war  against  Germany;  and,  by  the 
arithmetical  count  of  heads,  it  probably  is  so  to  an  over- 
whelming extent,  as  it  has  long  been  in  other  matters. 
But  one  wonders  how  many,  or  how  few,  there  may  be 
who  reflect,  with  a  depth  of  stable  conviction  altogether 
diverse  from  the  popular  unanimities,  that  the  British  are 
in  this  war,  as  in  so  very  much  else,  acting  in  an  express 
defiance  of  the  teaching  of  the  validest  Sage  and  Hero-soul 
that  has  lately  lived  among  them.  Yea,  in  a  witting  de- 
fiance of  the  clearest  revelation  of  indubitable  facts,  made 
by  the  Best  of  themselves  in  their  midst,  vitally  connected 
with  this  very  matter;  which  it  preeminently  behoved  the 
British  to  have  learnt  and  laid  to  heart,  as  basis  and  guide 
for  their  whole  relation  to  Germany.  Few,  indeed,  I  fear, 
are  those  who  know  thus,  if  compared  to  the  millions  ne- 
glectful; yet  possibly  more  numerous  than  those  denying 
millions  dream  of,  and  certainly,  were  it  unit  against  the 
rest  of  the  race,  of  more  weight  in  the  final  count.  These, 
in  their  musings  on  the  war,  its  Causes  and  its  Issues,  will 
have  their  rock-based  Certainties;  also  their  profound 
Dubieties;  their  confidence  in  Eternal's  justice,  and  joy 
in  iniquity's  overthrow;  their  submission  to  His  decree, 
however  terrible  the  desolation,  however  complete  and  hide- 

1 


2  PROEM 

ous-seeming  the  triumph  of  111.  Silent  for  the  most  part, 
and  waiting  the  Event  unforeseeable.  For  the  nation  does 
not  ask  their  counsel;  spurns  it  if  offered;  and  follows, 
as  most  chosen  of  the  Lord,  the  Demagogues  which  at 
each  moment  best  mouth  its  own  impious  will.  Moreover,  so 
long  as  anything  like  a  flaming  success  shall  crown  its  ef- 
fort, no  contrary  word  will  be  listened  to.  Should  adver- 
sity befall,  it  might  prove  otherwise;  and  in  either,  or 
in  any,  case  we  have  and  shall  have  our  thoughts  and  our 
duties  both  during  and  after :  Thoughts  and  duties  which 
might  perhaps  gain  a  little  in  clearness  if  earnestly  im- 
parted, deliberated  of. 

To  start  with  a  small  Certainty,  surely  shareable  by 
many  complexions :  This  attempt,  of  the  Newspapers  and 
Parliamentary  Leaders,  which  has  been  and  is  all  too  suc- 
cessful, to  work  the  whole  nation  up  into  a  state  of  foam- 
lipped  furor  against  the  Germans,  cannot  conduce  to  wis- 
dom in  the  council  or  valour  in  the  field.  This  is  not 
just  indignation,  and  no  profit  can  lie  in  it  for  Man. 
Neither  strength  to  us,  nor  danger  to  the  German, — save 
as  the  human  may  be  sore  bested  by  numberless  pack. 

Brutal  barbarian  and  modern  Hun,  ruthless  in  savage 
atrocity ;  Military  Autocracy,  domineering  of  temper,  bent 
on  self -aggrandisement,  destructive  of  freedom  and  seeking 
the  tyrannous;  most  to  be  dreaded  embodiment  of  Satanic 
power,  whose  threatened  encroachments  all  the  nations  of 
the  earth  should  gather  together  to  stem,  fairest  of  the 
justice-loving  unite  with  darkest  minister  to  cut  down  and 
destroy: — Surely  there  are  men  in  number,  true  British, 
indeed,  who  have  an  assurance,  not  to  be  shaken  by  any 
amount  of  rabid  clamour,  that  such  current  imagination 
of  the  German  bears  no  manner  of  resemblance  to  the 
German  of  fact;  men  who  could  fight  to  some  purpose 
in  a  cause  that  was  just,  unmoved  by  campaigns  of  per- 


PROEM  3 

suasion  far  removed  from  all  spirit  of  justice;  who,  de- 
manded to  draw  in  this  quarrel,  thrust  the  blade  further 
home  in  its  sheath,  with  some  uttered  or  mute  Videat 
Altissimum,  shamed  of  their  country's  deeds,  appealing  to 
their  captain's  Captain.  Yea,  mindful  of,  and  worthily 
obeying,  their  earthly  captain  also,  he,  the  greatest,  noblest, 
justest  of  all  modern  men,  Carlyle:  "Who  bore  witness 
of  mightily  different  tenor  to  the  German,  his  history,  mili- 
tary and  other  organisation,  and  whose  witness  they  know 
to  have  been  true.  Wide  and  stable  testimony  by  constant 
brother  man,  lucent  with  true  heaven's  inspiration;  some- 
what more  sufficing  than  the  Devil's  Head  in  phosphorus 
— drawn,  alas,  upon  no  dungeon's  walls,1  but  gleaming 
hideous  in  souls  mendacious  walking  freely  in  the  daylight, 
profane  in  insolent  denial  of  the  Seer  whom  the  Almighty 
sent  to  them.  To  us  at  least ;  not  to  them,  unless  penitent ; 
and  may  we  be  worthy  to  say  to  us. 

His  testimony,  testimony  to  Briton  and  German  alike, 
was  true:  That  we  know.  Has  it  any  way  ceased  to  be 
presently  applicable?  Demagogues  and  mob  that  plunged 
into  this  war  of  their  diligent  seeking,  lips  babbling  of 
endeavours  for  peace,  build  on  no  such  hypothesis ;  for  they 
have  denied  him  always  throughout,  and  root  still  in  belief 
of  the  lies  he  left  naked:  Their  new  false  imagination 
is  the  outcome  and  successor  of  the  old  false.  But  we,  we 
know  that  much  has  changed  since  he  declared  the  truth 
of  the  Past  and  his  own  time;  that  the  Present,  sure  de- 
scendant and  inheritor,  is  not  the  same;  and,  whilst  ever 
endeavouring  to  the  better  understand  Carlyle 's  spirit,  far 
be  it  from  us  to  assume  that  we  possess  it,  or  could  tell 

1  Carlyle  likened  Voltaire 's  Life  of  Frederick  the  Great  to  a  picture 
of  some  flaming  Devil's  Head  done  in  phosphorus  on  the  walls  of  a 
dungeon,  by  an  artist  whom  you  had  locked  up  there  over  night, — 
not  without  reason. 


4  PROEM 

what  he  would  have  thought  and  done  in  this  new  time 
and  circumstance.  Our  part  to  look,  with  such  eyes  as 
we  have,  and  try  to  learn  what  the  justice  is,  or  may  be; 
in  reverent  loyalty  to,  instead  of  insolent  rejection  of  his 
so  much  more  cosmic  wisdom, — which  also  never  supposed 
it  could  fathom  all,  but,  resolute  in  insight  given,  rested 
in  submissive  faith.  Thus,  though,  for  other  Certainties, 
we  may  know  completely  both  that  no  British  nation  which 
had  hearkened  to  Carlyle's  word  could  by  any  possibility 
have  got  into  this  war,  and  that  all  the  nation 's  articulated 
pleas  of  justification  for  having  got  into  the  war  are 
charged  with  a  spirit  very  perverse,  yet,  among  the  great 
Dubieties,  we  must  own  that  it  nowise  therefore  necessarily 
follows  that  Britain's  action  is  devoid  of  the  least  just 
basis,  cannot  have  mutely  in  it  any  instinctive  bias  which 
is  in  accord  with  the  deeper  verities.  Carlyle  himself  re- 
peatedly defined  the  French  Revolution,  mutinous,  anar- 
chies sequent,  raging  at  King,  as  a  search,  most  uncon- 
scious, for  true  king.  If  that  blind  grope,  cleaving  to  its 
very  conscious  Bedlam  Faith,  do  meet  the  Sane  and  hurl 
itself  unitedly,  in  league  too  with  its  own  chiefly  anathe- 
matised worst  representative  of  the  ancient  exploded,  upon 
such  Finder  more  victoriously  progressing  toward  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  it  still  welters  in, — Why,  if  so,  the  at- 
tempt is  a  damned  one;  if  successful,  will  prolong  the 
rotheap  's  slow  moulder ;  if  unsuccessful,  precipitate  the  at- 
tempting nation's  own  collapse,  unless  it  can  desist  in 
time,  learn,  through  defeat  manfully  accepted,  where  to 
turn  for  its  own  salvation  also.  //  so!  There  is  Dubiety. 
For  the  victorious  Solver,  or  the  veracious  progenitor  living 
toward  his  realisation  on  earth,  rooted  indeed  in  the  true 
of  the  Past,  must  be  of  the  Newborn,  broad-based  in 
progressive  humanity  and  ruling  in  very  wide  grasp;  ab- 
horring all  closure,  and  never  imagining  that  the  sword 


PROEM  5 

can  keep  peace,  bring  beneficent  victory,  unless  wielded 
in  valiance  long  suffering  as  severe.  One  knows  not  surely 
how  much,  or  even  whether,  such  element  is  really  in  the 
quarrel,  though  in  negative  sort  its  presence  there  he  vo- 
ciferously asserted.  But  we  must  leave  this  till  later, 
here  only  forecasting  of  drift. 

Empire  of  one  mind,  they  say ;  and  one  among  you  evi- 
dently does  not  rejoice  altogether!  Some  of  the  Colonies, 
too,  have  not  supported  quite  gratis,  if  they  have  been 
accorded  a  desirable  safety  to  thieve  so.  Yet  the  solidarity 
of  the  Empire,  taken  alone,  is  a  fact  of  much  significance ; 
more  grateful,  it  may  be,  in  many  respects,  to  the  unre- 
joicing  unit  than  the  outraged  reader  would  be  willing  to 
credit.  You  can,  then,  still  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder 
unitedly,  sinking  all  minor  differences  for  the  major,  and 
front  the  world  a  Nation :  It  was  not  seriously  debatable, 
at  least  for  the  start  and  in  a  cause  popular  successful, 
though  clamour  of  civil  war  imminent,  only  cut  short  by 
the  outbreak  of  foreign,  may  to  some  Austrian  heads  have 
seemed  an  item  that  helped  to  render  the  moment  oppor- 
tune. In  the  name  of  humanity,  let  us  hope  that  that  con- 
sideration had  no  weight  with  Liberal  Ministry  hoping 
fresh  lease  of  power  by  enterprise  abroad?  In  wanton- 
ness, it  were  to  me  wholly  incredible  it  had  any;  in  fore- 
gone persuasion  the  war  must  come  sooner  or  later,  I 
have  no  clear  confidence  the  home  crisis  was  without  in- 
fluence in  decision,  then  let  it  come  now.  When  a  nation 
cannot  stand  united  against  outer  world,  all  is  over  with 
it;  and  even  the  capacity  to  do  this  did  hang  uncertain 
through  the  middle  of  last  century.  But  that  doubt  has 
passed  for  a  while,  though  sure  to  return  if  the  boasted 
union  be  not  in  true  faith  for  the  just.  England  is  no  Po- 
land, whose  grandees  can  be  carried  in  ambitious  neigh- 


6  PROEM 

hour  's  pockets ;  Faction  has  not  reached  that  height  among 
us;  it  cares  for  nothing  else;  and  the  once  perilous  indif- 
ference of  mother  to  her  colonies  has  given  place  to  a  warm 
reciprocity.  Name  the  common  bond  of  Empire  nothing 
save  a  mutual  recognition  of  profit  by  the  union,  you  know 
the  hypothesis  untenable :  For  no  faithless  egotism  is 
ever  competent  to  steadily  live  as  one  of  a  whole,  to  per- 
ceive with  the  least  constancy  that  its  profit  does  lie  in 
such  union.  And  the  loyal  cooperation  of  all  ranks  here 
at  home,  staunch  support  of  distant  sections  of  the  race,  is 
a  thing  that  certifies  the  existence  of  a  priceless  fund  of 
virtue;  which  man  would  fain  see  directed  on  blest  enter- 
prise, then  founded  for  hundredfold  increase,  not  squan- 
dered in  impious  to  its  own  wreck  also.  It  cannot  cer- 
tify the  war  just,  nor  even  honestly  believed  so.  Neither 
can  it  bring  victory  in  spite  of  Heaven,  if  possibly  in  its 
greater  condemnation. 

It  is  true  that  United  Action  is  solely  permanently  pos- 
sible in  a  seeing  faith  and  for  the  just;  that  final  ruin 
to  a  nation,  once  established  in  great  possession,  scarcely 
ever  comes  till  it  have  lost  the  power  to  front  the  world 
a  unity,  fallen  wholly  internecine.  Why,  then,  should  Mr. 
Churchill  speak  as  if  defeat  in  this  war  must  disrupt  the 
Empire,  sweep  England  into  the  past?  It  does  not  argue 
much  of  a  manful  conviction  of  justice  in  entering  it,  of 
faith  in  the  quality  of  the  unanimous  British  response  he 
glories  in,  would  persuade  the  Yankee  to  second,  as  him- 
self next  on  the  world-devourer 's  list.  "We,  too,  may  be 
aware  of  enormous  perils ;  yet,  if  this  danger  do  exist,  know 
for  certain  that  it  cannot  have  come  by  the  war,  but  must 
have  been  long  already  extant;  self -gendered,  and  waiting 
only  for  some  crisis  to  be  precipitated.  Pugnacious 
Winston's  trepidations,  fears  of  social  institutions,  so 
darling  to  him,  getting  pulverized  by  mailed  fist,  do  not 


PROEM  7 

augur  well  of  his  faith  in  their  being  inspired  by  the  spirit 
which  endures  forever,  conquering  and  to  conquer.  Per- 
haps a  gentle  modesty,  natural  to  the  godly?  Such  as 
shrinks  from  asserting  that  deity  inhabits  the  poor  house 
its  hands  have  laboured  to  build.  And,  should  the  Ger- 
mans prove  victorious,  would  bow  mute  before  the  con- 
firmation by  Heaven  of  all  that  he  had  chiefly  hated? 
Though  we  have  not  observed  him  much  remarkable  for 
sentiments  of  that  description.  Surely  one  could  believe 
it  very  possible  for  a  soundly  based  Solidarity  to  come 
through  in  a  gained  strength,  whatever  the  issue.  If  de- 
feated in  what  seemed  just,  to  accept  the  worsting  with- 
out too  deep  an  abashment.  If  overthrown  in  unjust,  dire 
indeed  must  be  that  depth  of  rottenness  which  cannot 
confess  penitent,  anew  make  honourable  front,  no  citadel 
left.  Yea,  this  applies  to  all;  and,  for  God's  sake,  clear 
yourself  of  this  inflated,  most  vulgar,  Proclamation  of  Mag- 
nitude, which  meets  you  on  every  side.  Sir  Edward  Grey, 
Mr.  Asquith,  all  the  vocal  tribes,  announcing  with  wide 
throat :  The  hugest  thing  that  ever  yet  befell.  Thucydides 
commences  his  history  by  similar  insistence  the  war  he 
is  going  to  chronicle  was  the  greatest  ever  known,  foreseen 
so  by  himself;  meaning  thereby  mere  size  and  number, 
just  as  these  moderns  do.  What  wretched  pettiness  and 
suicidal  nothing  his  great  war  was  we  know:  Forfend 
the  omen!  Let  us  leave  all  that.  It  does  not  emanate 
from  gravity,  nor  indicate  staid  noble  consciousness  of 
weighty  fates  in  balance.  Nations,  and  the  "World,  have 
stood  worse  shocks  ere  now;  time  was,  too,  when  it  was 
thought  that  Man  could  stand  unmoved  should  the  moun- 
tains melt  and  stars  tumble  from  their  courses. 

It  is  not  to  be  forgotten  either  that  a  People  may  pon- 
derate irresistibly  in  a  right  direction  when  they  do  not 
see  at  all,  when  their  spoken  reasons  are  beyond  comment. 


8  PROEM 

Carlyle  found  this  to  be  eminently  true  of  both  Briton 
and  German.  It  is,  in  fact,  as  he  taught,  partly  true  of  all 
veridical  men  whatsoever;  no  utterable  intelligence  worth 
much  that  does  not  rest  on  dumb  bias,  on  a  totality  of  in- 
stinct whereof  the  clearest  intuition  can  only  render  very 
fractional  account.  Partly  true  because  veracity,  unable 
to  say  why,  prefers  silence  to  babblement.  But,  where 
that  silence  is,  the  fools  will  babble  with  so  much  the 
less  hinderance;  and  thus  it  often  haps  that,  with  so 
composite  an  entity  as  a  nation,  the  act  is  really  done  by 
those  who  never  gave  a  reason;  merely  apparently 
prompted  by  the  baseless  and  iniquitous  pleas  put  forward 
as  its  explanation,  justification,  condemnation.  It  may 
even  be  safely  affirmed  usually  done  so,  though  never  hap- 
pily when  so.  But  united  action  can  temporarily  be  from 
all  manner  of  causes;  very  terrible  deeds  done  in  popular 
delusions  more  wide  embracing,  more  spontaneous  in  their 
Solidarity,  than  have  ever  been  exampled  by  concordance 
in  a  god-commanded  duty.  Again,  though  unions  in- 
formed by  mere  egoism  are  transient  enough,  there  are 
others,  informed  by  a  false  faith,  maintained  in  blind 
obstinacy,  which  are  capable  of  long  continuance,  which 
grow  ever  the  madder,  the  more  fiercely  determined  in 
insistence,  the  more  wrongful  the  faith,  the  greater  defeat 
they  meet.  This,  too,  is  a  thing  the  world  has  witnessed 
many  times ;  and  nothing  the  English  have  ever  exhibited, 
or,  one  hopes,  ever  will  exhibit  in  that  bad  sort,  has  equalled 
the  toughness  of  the  Jews  when  their  destruction  came. 
Whole  towns  committing  suicide  rather  than  yield,  so  that 
even  their  enemies  could  take  no  pleasure  in  it.  They 
too  swore  (and  have  continued  to  swear)  that  their  faith 
was  true,  themselves  the  People ;  but  it  availed  them  noth- 
ing. Marry,  they  met  an  earthly  power  more  powerful 
than  themselves.     Do  you  suppose  that   it  would  have 


PROEM  9 

availed  them  had  they  been  huge  Empire,  so  preponderate 
in  number,  strength,  and  vast  resources  that  they  could 
have  crushed  all  opposite?  They  could  only  have  filled 
the  cup  of  their  iniquity  the  fuller. 

But,  although  the  case  of  an  already  great  nation,  still 
sound  within  itself  and  progressing  in  manhood,  over- 
thrown by  hostile  league  may  never  have  been  seen  yet, 
it  is  obviously  just  as  possible  as  the  similar  destruction 
of  an  individual,  if  unreckonably  rarer. 

Concerning  the  question  of  war  or  peace  in  Europe, 
apart  from  this  or  that  nation:  Great  hopes  were  enter- 
tained of  the  effects  of  more  general  culture,  more  rapid 
means  of  transit,  in  bringing  about  a  closer  intercourse, 
better  mutual  understanding,  and  the  century  of  peace, 
so  called,  may  have  seemed  to  strengthen  promise.  Goethe 
hoped  so  after  the  last  general  war,  and  Carlyle  shared 
in  the  hope  in  his  earlier  years,  not  in  his  later.  "With  the 
why  of  that  latter  fact  before  us,  the  hope  is  not  one  that 
I,  personally,  have  ever  shared  at  all.  I  have  no  belief 
that  wars  will  ever  cease ;  absolutely  none  that  culture  and 
ease  of  interchange  can  in  themselves  do  anything  con- 
siderable to  so  much  as  hinder  them.  For  long  one  could 
believe  them  the  more  likely  the  nobler  the  forces  at  work, 
and  Peace  Movements  would  never  deign  to  speak  of  at 
all;  unctuous  futilities  not  issuing  from  the  sterling  of 
any  race  or  persuasion.  Universal  reawakening  of  a  suf- 
ficient leaven  in  every  rank  of  every  nation  to  the  infinite 
nature  of  duty;  profound  gravity  in  each  unit,  earnest 
for  his  soul's  salvation,  and  irradiating  the  whole  mun- 
dane with  ethereal  light;  hearts  set  on  eternal  being,  and 
chiefs  of  the  State  elect  for  highest  manhood: — this,  and! 
nothing  short  of  this,  could  ever  put  an  end  to  Wars,  and 
only  then  if  so  established  dominant  every  vicious  con- 


10  PROEM 

trariant  could  see  the  hopelessness  of  comhat  without  trial. 
Among  Peoples  unleavened  by  intelligence  of  the  high- 
est; still  mumming  with  extinct  religions  long  after  even 
the  Jesuit  profession  has  fallen  flaccid;  pledged  univer- 
sally, in  a  spontaneous  enthusiasm,  to  political  faiths  that 
are  baseless,  sordid  absurd  even  where  pure,  doubly  ac- 
cursed where  mendaciously  compounded  with  the  main- 
tenance of  a  nominal  sovereignty  in  ancient  relics,  and 
malignantly  hostile  at  the  least  hint  of  a  sovereignty  actual ; 
genuine  only  in  the  terrene;  and  whose  best  zeal,  devoted 
to  sociology  projects,  is  unsound,  sincere  for  easement 
alone;  neither  privately  aspiring  to  the  infinite  nor  in 
public  resolute  for  the  inexorably  just: — Among  such,  the 
outbreak  of  general  war  is  not  surprising.  For  the  un- 
scrupulous greeds  remain,  and  are  not  controllable  by  a 
lying  spirit;  the  Bedlam  Faiths  themselves  very  ready  to 
plunge  headlong.  Fear  of  catastrophe,  also,  could  never 
avert  it:  The  noble,  recognizing  dread  possibilities,  may 
take  wise  measures  shall  prevent,  or  mitigate  them:  but 
the  devices  of  ignoble  men,  if  they  do  stave  for  the  instant, 
can  only  worsen  the  ultimate.  Devil's  diplomacy,  delib- 
erately plotting  for  war,  has  not,  I  believe,  been  the  pre- 
vailing phenomenon  in  recent  years,  rather  strenuous  en- 
deavours to  preserve  Peace  by  whatever  arrangement  the 
Big  Bullies  could  contrive  to  agree  upon,  the  so  trouble- 
some Small  be  compelled  to  accept :  which  is  the  first  thing 
we  have  to  look  at. 


CHAPTER  I  CONCERT  OF   EUROPE 


CONCERT  OF  EUROPE 

It  may  be  as  well  to  note  here  that  the  subject  matters 
of  the  first  four  chapters  of  this  book,  which  are  to  be 
labelled  respectively  Concert  of  Europe,  Ostensible 
Causes,  Balance  of  Power,  and  System  of  Alliances,  are 
so  intimately  connected  that  the  four  are  almost  as  one. 

It  is  very  lamentable  and  terribly  significant  how  wide- 
spread and  genuine  a  persuasion  has  got  abroad,  even 
among  the  good  people,  that  this  Concert  of  the  Powers 
was  a  sort  of  a  sacred  thing.  Colours  of  the  vulpine  do 
often  succeed  in  deceiving  as  they  wittingly  propose ;  and 
a  righteous  indignation  at  the  vulpine,  when  their  true 
motives  are  disclosed,  may  be  justified.  But  the  concur- 
rent belauding  as  holy  a  base  policy  whereof  the  motives 
have  been  correctly  announced  augurs  a  pravity  which, 
if  it  come  to  know  truth,  can  have  no  title  to  be  indignant, 
must  rather  confess  its  own  guilt.  Yet  even  here,  however 
stern  a  man's  recognition  of  the  sin,  he  knows  the  too 
commonly  irresistible  influence  of  a  general  consensus  in 
perverting  those  of  a  bias  truly  virtuous.  Some  sixteen 
years,  or  so,  ago,  one  time  when  reports  of  Turkish  atroc- 
ities in  Armenia  were  causing  such  emotion  in  England 
that  many  were  crying  for  armed  intervention,  I  remember 
being  urged  to  read  a  speech  of  Lord  Rosebery's.  A 
judicious  wet-cloth,  of  course,  but  equally  of  course,  since 
by  British  Liberal  Statesman  of  this  epoch,  not  a  speech 
astutely  contrived  to  simply  dissuade  from  enterprise  in- 

13 


14  CONCERT  OF  EUROPE 

convenient  for  Ministry  occupied  in  concerns  privately 
more  profitable  to  its  members;  on  the  contrary,  the  sin- 
cere utterance  of  a  man  self-sympathizing  with  the  emo- 
tion, wishful  for  the  Turks'  correction,  yet  arguing: 
Husht!  Dread  sequel  if  we  stir  alone;  in  the  Concert 
solely  is  there  safety  and  salvation.  And,  with  such  unc- 
tion did  he  perorate,  the  Public,  in  awakened  sense,  holily 
restrained  its  rage  for  its  salvation's  sake, — and  possibly 
the  Turk's,  not  quite  the  Armenian's.  I  refused  at  the 
moment  to  look  at  the  thing,  pained  with  emotions  of  an- 
other kind;  so  far  as  the  urger  knew,  never  looked  at  it; 
yet  did,  as  you  see,  afterwards  read,  in  resolute  suppres- 
sion, and  for  more  exact  knowledge  of  its  guessed  tenor. 
'You  should  read  that,  my  son;  that  is  a  speech  everybody 
ought  to  read. '  About  the  same  time  the  same  woman  said 
to  me,  upon  laying  down  a  book  entitled  Fire  and  Sword 
in  the  Soudan,  'I  suppose  he  could  not  help  himself,  but 
I  cannot  feel  any  respect  or  sympathy  for  that  man,'  the 
author,  one  Slaten,  to  wit.  Very  gently  said,  but  she 
couldn't;  yet  thought  the  Rosebery  address  delivered  in 
right  spirit  for  the  pulpit.  How  many  have  met  the  like ! 
How  many  have  thought  the  like !  Too  many  that  have  in- 
nocently drunk  in  a  belief  this  Concert  was  a  sacred  thing. 
Yet  the  case  of  that  Turkish  instance  was,  if  possible, 
even  grosser  than  the  subsequent  Balkan  ones.  A  dark, 
brutal,  wretch,  whatever  ill  he  do,  let  no  man  hinder,  lest 
his  coveted  den  breed  contention.  The  devil  to  be  kept 
afoot  in  some  measure ;  prudently  maintained  in  possession 
of  Eden,  because  the  godly  might  fall  out  with  one  an- 
other, were  so  lovely  a  spot  left  free  to  their  entry.  If 
a  murderous  thief  have  money  in  his  pocket,  or  the  bank, 
let  every  constable  be  wary;  never  dare  to  run  him  in, 
unless  the  Judges  are  agreed  on  how  to  share  the  spoil. 
In  Decorum's  name,  what  is  a  little  outrage  in  the  streets 


CONCERT  OF  EUROPE  15 

compared  to  quarrel  on  the  Bench?  The  results  of  that 
are  too  frightful  to  contemplate.  Hasty  zeal  would  defeat 
its  own  end,  destroy  the  very  means  of  bringing  offender 
to  judgment ;  for  without  a  judicious  unanimity  no  lawful 
verdict  were  obtainable.  Lawful  verdicts  are  frequently 
unobtainable,  sometimes  too  obtainable;  and  justice  never 
reached  so,  yet  capable  of  being  done  and  left  for  verdict. 
Methinks,  if  man  might  seriously  question  Have  I  real 
errand  to  correct  this  particular  and  so  distant  abuse? 
the  question  shall  I  wait  on  Concert  with  the  covetous 
to  do  it?  would  be  out  of  his  debate.  And  yet  I  honour 
policy,  and  know  the  multiple  involute  of  practical  fact. 
There,  however,  it  is  clear,  had  the  dubitating  (and  dubi- 
ous) Knight  Errant  stood  wholly  out,  the  covetous  neigh- 
bours, with  or  without  some  brush  of  comparatively  trifling 
battle,  would  long  since  have  contrived  to  share  in  some 
tolerable  manner ;  the  Balkans  in  whole  have  settled  them- 
selves the  better  without  the  meddling  of  such  a  disin- 
terested Umpire. 

Truly,  Prince  von  Kaunitz  Reitberg's  text,  that  Great 
Courts  should  understand  one  another,  then  the  Small 
would  be  less  troublesome,  has  found  fat  mother  to  breed 
in,  and  grown  enormously  since  his  day;  ever  the  more 
pronounced  virtuously  assured  of  morality,  up  to  the  very 
moment  of  catastrophe  from  the  start  inevitable  for  it. 
For  it?  Perhaps  not.  The  text  may  be  meet  enough 
for  unscrupulous  voracious  fellow;  have  a  real  truthful- 
ness to  nature  there,  be  well  allowed  by  heaven,  and  run 
on  to  happy  fulfilment  so  far.  Voracity  may  be  perfectly 
veracious ;  and  I  never  blame  a  shark  for  swallowing  small 
fry  with  his  utmost  gusto.  The  sight  of  half  a  dozen 
sharks  gracefully  manceuvring  in  Concert,  for  the  more 
dexterous  satisfaction  of  several  appetites,  may  also  have 
its  own  seemliness,  the  gastric  desires  of  highest  mortal 


16  CONCERT  OF  EUROPE 

confess  a  certain  sympathy.  But  for  creatures  that  have 
once  guessed  themselves  made  in  their  Maker's  image,  to 
whom  a  sense  of  the  infinite  of  right  and  wrong  has  an- 
nounced that  the  gaining  of  the  whole  world  could  not 
profit  if  achieved  in  treason  to  that  image; — for  them  to 

take  such  text  as  maxim   for  International  Policy ! 

Why  I  do  not  know  that  they  ever  did  it;  only  the  sharks 
having  heard  tell  of  them,  then  find  it  expedient  to  de- 
liberately cloak  greed  in  show  of  holiness,  and  imagine 
they  can  work  injustice  the  more  securely  by  professing 
care  of  equity;  whilst  a  huge  medley  of  others  add  their 
votes,  variously  persuaded  that  this  is  the  solution:  For 
whom  catastrophe  is  inevitable;  because  they  build  on  no 
truth,  neither  on  appetite  or  intelligence,  but  on  a  lying 
compound,  beast  man  and  god  alike  disown,  which  nothing 
in  nature  will  support. 

May  not  a  Small  nation  have  just  or  unjust  cause  of 
quarrel,  reasonable  or  unreasonable  claim  or  pretension, 
as  much  as  a  Great?  And  what  valid  title  can  the  Great 
ever  have  to  step  in  and  say:  We  will  decide  your  dis- 
putes and  your  claims  and  in  all  things  you  shall  do  as 
we  bid? — 0  damned  canaille,  jealous  of  classes  superior, 
yelping  distracted  at  each  hint  or  suspicion  of  one  law  for 
Rich  and  another  for  Poor,  sworn  all  as  one  man  that 
that  shall  be  the  rule  in  law  International!  Your  skins 
are  precious  to  you  and  your  corpora  stink. — In  the  ideal 
possibilities,  where  the  Great  loved  the  truth  and  sought 
to  do  justice  alone,  court  of  their  convening  might  be 
a  godly  tribunal,  very  blessed  to  see  upon  earth ;  and,  what- 
ever security  their  power  gave  to  its  meetings,  lent  to 
enforce  its  judgments,  most  sure  it  is  that  the  considera- 
tion Great  or  Little?  would  weigh  pure  zero  in  determin- 
ing right  to  a  seat  on  the  bench?  Is  this  the  thing  we 
have  seen?    No ;  nor  so  much  as  endeavoured  toward.    But, 


CONCERT  OF  EUROPE  17 

in  clear  sight  of  utterly  diverse  fact,  the  beneficence  that 
would  attach  to  this  has  been  pretended  for  that  diverse, — 
which,  also,  as  shall  shortly  be  referred  to,  could  have  had 
an  honest  place.  Conclave  of  the  Powerful  assembled  to 
find  how  their  own  mutual  jealousies  set  on  edge  by  de- 
bates 'mong  the  less, — glowering  one  at  another  Take  that 
side,  if  you  dare.  By  God  I'll  take  this  you  do. — may 
reach  compromise  without  wager  of  battle,  the  Small  be 
compesced  into  accepting  the  awards  so  arrived  at;  and 
is  one  of  the  most .  unblessed  things  very  certainly  seen 
upon  the  earth.  Yes,  this  is  the  thing  we  have  seen  these* 
last  thirty  years  and  longer,  growing  ever  the  more  con- 
fident to  its  inevitable  result.  Parties  there  have  been 
in  England  and  elsewhere,  very  vehement  for  the  justice, 
or  what  they  thought  it,  yet  even  these  have  all  subscribed 
to  the  prime  need  of  Concert;  admitted  it  were  better 
that  wrong  should  be  done  than  peace  'tween  the  Mighty 
put  in  danger  of  rupture.  Here,  at  any  rate,  no  shadow 
of  a  plea  can  be  found  that  these  things  were  done  by 
closeted  few,  the  nations  not  witting.  What  the  articles 
agreed  upon  each  time  were,  what  dextrous  management 
was  exercised  to  reach  them,  may  be  an  esoteric  mystery; 
but  what  spirit  wrought  has  been  broadly  visible  and 
universally  sanctioned.  In  England  most  eminently. 
Speeches  upon  speeches  in  Parliament  and  out,  without 
respect  of  party ;  all  the  newspapers  in  leading  articles ;  and 
table  talk  in  each  private  household; — the  argument  has 
been  everywhere  the  same.  I  know  no  instance  of  Na- 
tional Policy  so  overwhelmingly  endorsed,  in  full  sight  of 
its  true  essence;  up  to  that  last  speech  at  the  outbreak, 
when  Sir  Edward  Grey, — he  would  not  have  had  the  Peace 
of  Europe  jeopardised  for  Servia.  Aye,  Sir  Edward  has 
been  very  consistent  in  this,  and  outspoken;  long  since 
and  constantly  made  it  evident  as  could  be  'twas  funda- 


18  CONCERT  OF  EUROPE 

mentally  accepted  in  his  Policy  the  weak  must  go  to  the  wall 
rather  than  important  persons  suffer;  merely  Quixotic  to 
hope  otherwise.  Of  course !  And  God  forbid  he  'd  mammer 
scrupulous  on  such  a  point.  Then,  if  the  case  of  Belgium 
touch  you  nearer,  step  forth  pure  champion  of  the  Small, 
in  righteous  zeal.  The  soul  of  man  is  sick  at  the  sodden 
hyprocrisy;  could  find  the  deeds  smell  sweeter  if  done  in 
conscious  perfidy  of  the  cunning.  And  the  newspapers 
hope  that,  when  the  war  is  over,  the  Concert  may  be  re- 
established in  such  firmness  any  little  nation  attempting 
to  draw  free  breath  shall  instantly  be  throttled  impotent: 
They  must  never  be  allowed  to  provoke  such  disasters 
again.  It  does  not  strike  you  that  they  have  just  as  good 
a  right  to  bustle  in  the  world  as  any  of  the  Big?  That, 
if  the  Big  fall  a-quarrelling  in  sequel,  the  crime  is  their 
own  wholly;  the  true  peril  in  their  disposition  so  to  do, 
and  unremovable  while  that  remains? 

None  worth  the  name  of  man  but  must  know  beyond 
all  question  that  the  sole  thing  which  can  give  a  nation 
right  to  set  up  for  Judge  in  another's  quarrel  is  the  reso- 
lution to  do  justice  in  it.  Court  convened  to  arbitrate 
on  matters  in  dispute  and  primarily  devoted  to  the  main- 
tenance of  peace  among  the  Arbiters!  Could  there  be  a 
thing  more  impious  than  this?  What  amazed  execration 
would  greet  it,  if  proposed  for  settlement  of  the  least  six- 
penny matter  between  private  litigants!  Yet  seen  Inter- 
national applauded  with  unction  by  every  man,  woman  and 
youth;  anathema  only  for  any  not  zealous  for  such  first 
aim,  the  very  need  for  which  invalidates  for  umpire's 
seat  and  of  necessity  turns  the  Court  into  one  for  iniquity 's 
sanction. 

Such  has  too  terribly  been  the  fact,  and  damnable.  Yet 
we  said  that  a  fact  very  diverse  from  the  professed  Be- 


CONCERT  OF  EUROPE  19 

neficent  Arbitration  could  have  honestly  been.  It  is  obvi- 
ous that  parties  extraneous  to  an  original  dispute  may 
have  interests  of  every  degree  of  gravity  affected  by  that 
dispute;  may  confer  together  for  peaceable  solution  of 
those  interests ;  if  unable  to  reach  it,  may  choose  mediators ; 
and,  if  still  at  a  deadlock,  an  umpire.  Likewise  that  par- 
ties extraneous  to  the  original  dispute  and  to  the  cross 
interests  of  the  secondaries  directly  affected  may  have  in- 
terests of  every  degree  of  gravity  affected  by  division 
among  the  secondaries,  and  so  ad  infinitum,  till  there  be 
in  reality  no  party  without  interest;  and  conference  for 
peaceable  solution  the  more  desirable  than  ever :  In  which 
reckoning,  it  may  be  worth  remarking  that  the  jumping 
of  a  flea  is,  in  logical  sequence,  at  all  times  competent  to 
set  the  whole  world  by  the  ears ;  and  wisdom,  accordingly, 
somewhat  chary  how  it  claims  interest  affected.  Clearly 
enough,  the  sole  valid  basis  for  those  Conferences  among 
the  Great  Powers  upon  Balkan  affairs  was  adjustment  of 
their  own  differences  arising  through  interests  affected. 
Every  man  knows  that  nothing  else  ever  called  them  into 
existence;  that  they  were  always  in  reality  convened  to, 
if  possible,  prevent  quarrel  among  the  Great,  not  for  un- 
biassed decision  in  equity  by  them  of  disputes  among  the 
Small;  that  the  pretence  of  a  God's  vice-regency  by  Major 
in  Concert  over  Minor  inclined  to  division  was  a  pretence 
palpable,  which  fear  alone  ever  led  any  to  accredit  holy.  If 
those  Conferences  had  been  informed  wholly  by  a  spirit 
of  greedy  cunning,  each  party  diligent  for  private  end, 
they  might  have  had  their  dog's  day;  and  noble  states- 
man kept  rigorously  out:  For  that  is  the  law;  you  are 
not  bound  to  have  a  finger  in  every  pie ;  and,  if  you  can- 
not interfere  for  good,  shall  not  interfere  at  all,  but  leave 
the  coil  to  its  strugglings  and  such  issue  as  the  high  o'er- 
ruling  Providence  may  have  for  it. 


20  CONCERT  OF  EUROPE 

If  honest  (and  thereby  alone  truly  valid)  the  Conference 
must  have  Justice  for  its  first  aim  every  whit  as  much  as 
Court  of  Arbitration;  and  steady  refusal  to  force  that 
on  the  less  which  nothing  save  the  jealousies  of  the  Great 
demand.  Noble  Briton,  entering  such  Conference,  might 
indeed  have  prayed  heaven  to  grant  him  a  tactful  sa- 
gacity, fine  delicacy  of  manipulation  and  a  solid  under- 
standing of  the  doable,  much  more  and  primarily  to 
grant  him  insight  into  the  veritable  right  and  wrong  of  the 
matters,  well  knowing  that  nothing  built  on  miss  of  this 
could  have  a  chance  to  stand,  that  completest  Concert 
attained  in  defiance  of  this  would  infallibly  prove  ex- 
ceedingly disconcerting.  He  would  have  utterly  abhorred 
the  accursed  doctrine  of  the  Great's  right  to  interfere 
because  Great,  and  rejected  all  plans  based  on  such  a  sup- 
position. "Would  have  known,  too,  that  if  the  strong  hand 
can  sometimes  parcel  States,  it  is  forever  impotent  to 
create  one :  That  can  never  be  done  at  external  dictation : 
what  nation  is  to  be  a  nation  must  spring  by  nature's 
generation,  spontaneous  in  a  self-vitality,  self-fending,  self- 
coherent,  being  and  expanding  by  its  own  innate  powers. 
Ah,  me!  This  manufacturing  of  States,  autonomous  Al- 
baniaSj  what  not,  Belgium  itself  for  that  matter,  with  their 
frontiers  marked,  constitutions  supplied,  and  kings  (God 
save  the  mark!)  all  ready  chosen  for  them,  according  to 
model  pleasing  to  the  grandiose  disposers: — it  awakens 
thoughts  we  must  not  go  into;  and,  any  time,  I  would 
rather  leave  the  blindest  rages  free  to  their  havoc  than 
be  one  in  framing  such  a  mock  settlement,  fraught  with 
far  deadlier  havoc. 

Yea,  noble  Briton,  unable  to  do  or  to  obtain  justice 
for  the  Small,  had  sooner  left  them  to  try  their  own 
strengths  than  been  a  party  to  unjust  compulsions.  If  he 
could  not  defend  them  from  wrongful  aggressions,  restric- 


CONCERT  OF  EUROPE  21 

tions,  had  sorrowfully  stood  aside,  sooner  than  lent  these 
his  sanction.  And  if  he  could  not  have  found  acceptance 
as  mediator  between  the  Big  concerning  their  interests  af- 
fected, had  similarly  left  them  to  fight  it  out,  rather  than 
won  the  crown  as  Peacemaker  by  Concert  in  sacrifice  of 
the  Lesser 's  rights.  In  all  ways,  he  had  stood  for  Justice, 
wrought  for  it,  and,  in  such  resolution,  had  seen  the  justice 
in  some  measure,  as  without  it  never;  whether  active  or 
passive,  had  found  a  manful  course.  But,  with  Peace  the* 
first  aim,  all  was  naturally  very  different,  and  honourable 
action  never  possible.  Man  authentically  actuated  by  that 
aim  only  is  in  practical  deed  a  powerless  entity.  Peace! 
Peace !  For  God 's  sake,  Peace !  Lest  /  get  involved,  might 
seem  contemptible  too ; — but  not  to  most,  when  cried  by  a 
man  very  able  to  fight,  and  adding — at  any  cost  to  those 
little  nuisances.  Had  Sir  Edward  Grey  wished  peace  for 
peace's  sake  he  had  been  a  nullity  and  thing  helpless  to 
further  the  least  agreement ;  had  he  cared  particularly  for 
justice  he  might  have  found  himself  an  alien  spirit,  still 
more  futile  to  preserve  peace  this  day;  but,  being  heartily 
desirous  to  prevent  war  for  reasons  highly  intelligible  to 
the  rest,  he  often  did  patch  up  matters  by  expedients  of 
the  moment,  each  time  worsening  the  fact  and  rendering 
ultimate  rupture  the  more  certain.  My  fleets  and  armies 
are  in  readiness  and  I  can  be  truculent  enow,  but,  Gen- 
tlemen, War  for  such  a  casus!  Come,  hit  on  some  reason- 
able apportionment  of  shares,  or  all  forego.  And  then 
to  some  the  casus  was  not  so  distant,  insignificant,  as  to 
him.  And  when  did  a  heaven  blessed  Amity  result  from 
the  like  of  this? 

Concert  of  Europe,  how  these  latter  decades  has  this 
been  impressed  on  us !  The  just  of  every  nation  eyeing  in 
silence,  with  reflections  too   awful  for  utterance.     Plat- 


22  CONCERT  OF  EUROPE 

form  and  pulpit,  every  shade  of  opinion,  zealous  in  sacred 
insistence,  breath  bated  in  fear :  0  ye  nations  called  Small ! 
God  damn  you  be  quiet,  lest  the  Peace  of  the  Great  be 
disturbed.  Was  there  ever  a  doubt  that  the  Lord  of  Eter- 
nity, so  besought  to  preserve  them  from  quarrel,  would 
answer  the  Great  by  letting  loose  all  their  furies  to  ravin 
the  worse  for  every  stave  till  the  morrow? 


CHAPTER   II:     OSTENSIBLE   CAUSES 

BEING  A  CRITICISM  OF  BRITISH  WHITE  PAPER 

'CASE' 


II 

OSTENSIBLE   CAUSES 

It  is  naturally  the  custom  of  a  nation's  Leaders,  when 
they  announce  war  on  its  behalf,  to  make  some  sort  of 
public  statement  of  the  Causes  which  have  determined 
them  to  take  so  grave  a  step ;  and  the  rarer  case  that  the 
true  causes  are  so  much  as  touched  upon  in  such  Ostensi- 
ble account  of  them.  Very  often  the  reasons  given  are 
so  totally  inadequate  (to  say  naught  else)  you  might  marvel 
how  any  one  could  put  them  forth  as  explanation  to  be 
credited;  why  the  Peoples  so  addressed  do  not  instantly 
reply:  We  will  not  hazard  life  or  limb  for  these  hiccups. 
Yet  it  is  not  the  Peoples '  custom  to  answer  so ;  they  usually 
accept  the  reasons  given  as  affording  convincing  grounds 
for  deeds  and  sacrifices  so  daringly  disproportioned  it  looks 
an  inconceivable  credulity;  by  many  of  the  more  philo- 
sophic, regarded  perennially  as  a  sort  of  bedlam  posses- 
sion. And  no  doubt  it  considerably  is  so;  yet  far  from 
wholly.  Blind  stampede  and  wild  unreason  of  mob,  with 
brute  love  of  war,  fascination  and  glamour  of  exploit, 
ever  is  in  it;  yet  also  greatly  more.  Even  the  enthusi- 
astic chorus,  reiterating  the  helpless  reasons  offered  as  be- 
yond gainsaying,  springs  not  altogether  from  simpleness, 
nor  readiness  to  seize  excuse,  but  from  an  instinct  of  a  vast 
unspoken  behind,  at  least  belief  there  must  be  this.  Yea, 
without  conviction,  persuasion,  or  imagination  of  a  true 
infinite  at  stake,  which  in  the  name  of  manhood  commands 
no  cost  be  weighed,  the  nations  never  fall  a-battling.    Idea 

25 


26  OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES 

of  a  supreme  Duty,  whether  radiant  in  clear  intelligence, 
turbid  confused,  or  diabolically  opposite,  is  always  there; 
and  even  the  cunning  who  seek  to  provoke  wars  for  their 
own  ends,  cannot  do  so  unless  this  be  in  some  way  excited : 
Its  presence  is  a  necessity;  but,  if  not  intelligent,  it  can 
be  traded  on.  The  very  day  before  war  was  declared  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  Germany  newspapers  were  de- 
claiming it  an  unthinkable  absurdity,  monstrous  to  suggest ; 
and  next  day  were  for  it  in  whole  heart  and  so  much  of 
soul  as  they  may  be  supposed  to  possess.  Nor  is  that 
phenomenon  purely  one  of  the  weathercock,  the  essence 
of  whose  utility  is  well  known  to  be  instant  amenability 
to  wind,  however  changeful;  a  better  ingredient  in  the 
recognition  that  division,  the  least  word  of  debate,  is  peril- 
ous in  such  circumstances,  and  a  loyal  trust  in  the  leaders 
requisite  for  nations'  being.  Would  that  men  knew  it 
equally  in  peace,  for  it  is  equally  true  then;  and  reflect 
on  the  really  awful  responsibility  they  owe  for  their  choice 
of  Leaders.  Exceedingly  foolish,  superficial  is  the  notion 
too,  that  wars  are  ever  caused  by  trifles;  the  wiser  know 
that  the  causes  are  always  fully  adequate,  perfectly  pro- 
portioned in  fact,  could  mortal  trace  them.  No  mortal  can 
trace  them,  and  the  proclamation  of  Ostensible  is  never 
blameworthy  because  that  way  '  inadequate ' ! 

Granting  that  the  Ostensible  rarely  touch  upon  the  Real, 
they  remain  noteworthy,  were  it  only  as  indications  of  the 
degree  of  intelligence.  They  may  be  subterfuges  wittingly 
concocted  by  wile,  or  stolidities  of  inarticulate  honesty  that 
cannot  speak  its  meaning.  Neither  is  it  to  be  ever  for- 
gotten that  the  highest  true  could  as  little  really  name  his 
cause.  Cause  fully  declarable  were  by  the  hypothesis, 
shallow  and  trivial.  For,  never  is  it  the  thing  predicated, 
but  the  enormous  sequels  which  hang  by  it;  and  compre- 
hension of  these  intuitive  tacit  in  faith.    Nevertheless  the 


OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES  '  27 

Leaders  ought  to  know  to  some  extent,  and  who  has  the 
intuitive  perception  does;  never  will  the  reasons  rendered 
by  these  be  contrary  to  the  fact,  however  limited  in  ac- 
count of  it.  "Well,  the  British  Ostensible  Causes  are  set' 
forth  in  a  certain  White  Paper  familiar  to  all  men,  and 
to  which  the  leaders  refer  as  authorized  statement  of  their 
'Case.'  While  Sir  E.  T.  Cook  has  volunteered  an  eluci- 
dated abbreviation  fearlessly  entitled  Why  Britain  is  at 
War.  No  man 's  breath  appears  to  have  been  taken  away ; 
but,  for  my  part,  my  audacity  would  not  reach  to  this. 
How  we  picked  quarrel;  or  how  we  closed  with  the  offer 
of  it;  or  how  we  were  forced  into  it;  these  are  Madams 
(if  you  know  your  Kingsley)  you  may  hope  to  scrape  some 
acquaintance  with  in  those  pages  of  My  Lords  Ambas- 
sadors' despatches;  but,  as  to  bosoming  with  My  Lady 
Why,  'tis  to  be  doubted  she  is  not  quite  so  free  a  wench. 
Happily  there  is  no  question  that  the  paper,  so  far  as  it 
does  go,  is  authentic;  and  as  we  say,  interesting  chiefly 
as  showing  degree  of  veracity. 

For  absence  of  wile  will  not  make  a  thing  honest;  de- 
liberate wile  can  be  truer  than  a  systemic  mendaciousness, 
which,  never  expressly  uttering  falsehood,  yet  speaks  and 
acts  habitually  from  assumptions  that  are  baseless.  It  is 
not  true,  for  instance,  that  you  sought  peace  with  your 
neighbour  if  determined  on  war  unless  he  behaved  himself 
according  to  a  prescription  drawn  up  as  suitable  to  your 
needs  and  conveniences  merely;  no  industrious  zeal,  most 
passionate  pleading  to  persuade  to  keep  within  the  bounds 
set,  will  prevent  your  being,  in  that  case,  most  essentially 
the  Aggressor.  And  the  knave  who  made  the  prescrip- 
tions purposely  to  provoke  war  might  readily  stand  in 
closer  contact  with  truth  than  the  wight  who  expected 
to  preserve  order  by  publicly  announcing  a  law  of  conduct 
for  those  wholly  without  his  jurisdiction.    If  we  have  only 


28  OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES 

privately  registered  the  rule,  too,  and,  half  conscious  of 
its  presumptuous  absurdity,  shrink  from  declaring  it  till 
the  last  moment  compel,  his  pleading  may  easily  be  the 
more  passionate,  so  that  he  sit  down  in  tears  to  cry  Pity! 
God  witness  I  did  all  I  could ;  but  his  workings  are  pitiful, 
can  only  prove  the  more  disastrous  through  'good'  inten- 
tions less  subtle  perfide  then  simply  disjoined  from  fact's 
realm. 

Of  the  Austro-Servian  matter  with  which  this  "White 
Paper  so  confidently  referred  to  as  exhibiting  Britain's 
'  Case, '  commences,  we  have  not  much  to  say :  The  Justice 
of  the  dispute  was  confessedly  no  cause  of  Britain 's  action ; 
and  I,  personally,  could  not  hold  myself  competent  to  speak 
a  word  on  it:  do  not  know  that  at  all.  This,  however,  I 
do  know :  namely,  that,  whether  the  launching  of  her  Ulti- 
matum by  Austria  was  wise  or  unwise,  its  wording  prudent 
or  imprudent,  if  the  charges  made  in  it  were  true,  then, 
certainly,  Austria  had  valid  ground  for  most  drastic  ac- 
tion; and  nothing  save  the  complete  submission  of  Servia 
could  have  given  her  security  against  a  continuance  of  the 
alleged  offences.  Alleged  offences  which  if  true  were  wholly 
intolerable,  inexcusable,  and  very  great  forbearance — godly 
insufferance  or  fractious  compelled — shown  in  enduring 
them  so  long.  And,  if  one  own  to  something  more  than 
scepticism  of  Austrian  political  integrity  generally,  that 
would  only  make  one  the  more  insist  on  no  hindrance  if 
she  had  right  in  a  particular  instance.  Every  fair-minded 
man  must  have  felt  that  if  these  charges  were  true,  not 
necessarily  in  each  detail  specified  but  generically  in  whole 
spirit  imputed,  then  Austria  had  full  title  to  chastise  with 
the  armed  hand ;  and  would  rather  have  guarded  her  from 
interference  than  been  a  party  to  it.  Therefore,  whoso- 
ever in  any  way  challenged  her  action  could  only  in  probity 


OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES  29 

do  so  if  justified  in  calling  the  truth  of  the  charges  in 
question.  Peculiarly  futile  was  it  to  run  up  crying  De- 
lay! for  God's  sake,  delay,  and  moderate  your  tone,  when 
it  was  obvious  that  if  the  charges  were  true  the  time  for 
delay  or  moderation  was  long  past.  If  Britain,  idle  knight- 
errant  with  no  business  of  her  own  to  look  after,  wished 
to  act  on  that  score  she  should  have  acted  years  before. 
Alas!  we  all  know  she  had;  and  added  vexation  enough, 
not  so  Quixotically  neither  for  the  wound  as  expediently 
for  far  other  objects.  Sancho's  stomach  made  one  suf- 
ficing trial  of  his  master's  Balsam,  wambled  at  the  mere 
snuff  ever  after:  Can  you  wonder,  then,  if  Austria  at 
length  grew  squeamish  of  Grey  Powder  for  every  ill  she 
had  a  mind  to  mend? 

When  Servia,  after  shuffle  and  enquiry  round,  replied 
to  the  Ultimatum,  our  Sir  Edward  swore  he'd  never  seen 
a  nation  make  a  more  prostrate  salaam  to  truculent  Bashaw. 
To  which  I  fear  the  answer  is :  It  had  much  of  that  char- 
acter, and  was  a  thing  of  paper;  very  fit  to  rank  among 
Ostensibles.  And,  showing  more  suppleness  in  perform- 
ing a  required  kowtow  than  sincerity  in  penitence,  gave 
properly  no  assurance  of  a  better  loyalty  in  future  deed. 
Nothing  in  that  nominal  submission  offered  hope  of  stable 
working;  and,  of  course,  it  is  one  way  evident  that,  once 
things  had  reached  this  pass,  nothing  short  of  the  almost 
miraculous  could.  Since,  if  the  charges  were  untrue  the 
party  who  made  them  was  bent  on  mischief  and  would 
take  no  answer;  whilst,  if  true,  the  party  of  whom  they 
were  true  would  have  needed  to  do  a  considerable  con- 
version before  becoming  able  to  make  reply  of  such  radi- 
cally different  tenor  as  could  have  seemed  to  Man  a  ground 
to  try  anew  upon.  I  think  these  are  facts,  and  in  Sir 
Edward  Grey's  despatches  there  is  not  the  slightest  recog- 
nition of  them:    Which,  whether  he  believed  the  first  al- 


30  OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES 

ternative  or  the  second  or  the  more  probal  compound  of 
both,  there  assuredly  should  have  been.  Intense  plead- 
ing there  is  in  those  despatches.  But  it  is  all  prompted 
by  absolutely  self-interested  motives;  flows  not  from  care 
of  Austria's  welfare  or  of  Servia's,  but  of  our  own  skin's 
solely;  owes  its  fervency  to  the  heart  text:  Mercy  on 
us!  Hold  your  hand,  you,  bow  down  t'other,  both  ac- 
cept shadow  for  substance,  lest  your  differences  breed  a 
brawl  of  wider  compass  wherein  we  should  not  'scape. 
It  was  Sir  E.  Grey's  duty  to  look  after  our  interests; 
and,  if  he  meddled  in  this  foreign  matter,  the  first  law 
for  that  was  to  see  the  facts  of  it  and  conform  to  them; 
there  could  be  no  hope  in  resource  which  flew  in  the  teeth 
of  them.  But  the  dread  of  cataclysm  misled,  as  fear  ever 
makes  men  traitors  to  themselves  and  all  mankind.  More- 
over, it  was  no  case  of  a  normal  integrity  erring  in  one 
instance,  but  of  a  quite  habitual  attempt  to  build  on  the 
untenable,  to  safeguard  by  methods  essentially  mendacious, 
howsoever,  persuaded  of  needful  expediency  or  claiming 
regard  of  common  welfare. 

For  for  Great  Britain,  on  her  own  initiative,  uninvited, 
to  write  any  despatch  to  Austria  on  her  Servian  affair  was 
in  reality  an  indefensible  proceeding ;  and  every  man  knows 
that  Britain  herself  would  be  the  last  to  suffer  the  like 
from  another.  Had  any  nation  presumed  to  offer  us  advice 
in  any  of  our  numerous  disputes  with  little  states  or  big, 
what  sort  of  answer  should  we  have  made  ?  You  all  know 
it:  A  peremptory  injunction  never  to  repeat  the  like  in- 
solence under  penalty.  It  is,  indeed,  a  flatly  impossible 
position  this,  that  self-fending  independent  states  shall  be 
perpetually  prevented  from  managing  their  own  disputes 
without  consult  of  neighbours.  A  thing  justly  intolerable 
to  the  states  so  checked.  And,  on  the  other  side,  however 
prone  the  big  may  be  to  bully,  to  enchant  the  arm  of 


OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES  •         31 

power  from  its  natural  exercise  is  sure  to  prove  a  cherish- 
ing of  license.  When  done,  as  here  on  the  plea  of  You 
mustn't,  lest  we  others  get  to  loggerheads,  reduced  to  the 
extremity  of  impious  absurdity.  Doubtless  the  far-seeing, 
equitable,  sagacious  Ruler  would  recognise  the  existence 
of  such  mad  notions  in  his  neighbours'  heads  and  weigh 
them;  but  he  above  all  others  would  know  the  notions  to 
be  baseless  delusions,  vicious  in  origin,  pernicious  in  act; 
would  proceed  on  his  own  business  none  the  less,  whether 
in  wary  evasion  or  open  contempt.  The  more  ordinary, 
so  beshouted  to  stop,  would,  if  he  deigned  to  look  over  his 
shoulder  at  all,  merely  rejoin:  You  will  fight  with  each 
other,  say  you?  That  is  surely  your  affair.  I  wish  you 
good  luck,  and  may  God  salve  your  wits,  for  they  need 
it  more  than  your  wounds  will. 

Most  clearly,  to  continually  prevent  the  settlement  of 
disputes  is  to  create  a  danger  immeasurably  greater  than 
any  their  fiercest  let  could  have  brought  about;  and  if 
others  get  to  quarrel  in  sequel  the  responsibility  thereof 
rests  on  their  own  heads.  Austria  has  to  answer  to  God 
for  the  justice  of  her  war  upon  Servia;  but  not  therefore 
for  the  European  War. 

According  to  the  White  Paper,  Germany's  Ostensible 
attitude  toward  this  Austro-Servian  matter  was  that  Aus- 
tria had  the  right  to  manage  in  it  as  she  herself  thought 
fit,  and  no  other  a  title  to  interfere :  This  was,  in  fact,  the 
only  right  attitude,  unless  you  were  constituted  Judge  of 
the  dispute,  or  had  good  grounds  and  duty  to  challenge 
the  justice  of  Austria's  action;  and  if,  as  one  hopes  and 
believes,  the  Ostensible  was  so  far  the  Real,  there  is  not 
a  word  can  be  said  against  it.  The  one  straightforward, 
manful  course  there  was  for  third  parties  not  directly  con- 
cerned. 


32  OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES 

Britain,  whatever  her  thought  or  resolution  for  subse- 
quent developments,  possible,  probable,  or  certain,  ought 
thus  far  to  have  taken  the  same;  and  had  she  done  so, 
there  would  have  been  a  different  tale  to  tell  in  the  sub- 
sequent developments.  Simple  refusal  to  be  a  Busybody. 
Nor  need  such  passive  role,  in  case  liable  to  grow  compli- 
cated, be  a  whit  the  less  simply  this  because  he  who  takes 
it  is,  as  he  should  be,  alive  to  the  complexities  also,  ready 
for  action  in  them,  if  they  do  result.  Sir  E.  T.  Cook, 
seeking  the  sinister,  full  of  a  preconceived  belief  of  it, 
repeats  with  exclamation  mark,  her  minister's  statement 
that  Germany  very  well  knew  what  she  was  about  in  so 
'Backing  up  Austria';  said  'backing'  consisting  in  what 
the  English  call  a  traitorous  refusal  to  unite  with  them 
in  forbidding  Austria  to  manage  her  own  concerns.  Has 
it  really,  then,  become  a  sin  to  a  Briton  that  a  man  should 
know  what  he  is  doing?  It  often  almost  seems  so.  The 
most  dangerous  crime,  at  least,  and  surest  mark  of  nefari- 
ous proclivity  to  say  one  thing  and  not  mean  another; 
safety  and  virtue  alone  in  those  transparent  mendacities 
— whereby  our  Faith  and  Polity  are  kept  secure  from 
ravin  and  inspiration  alike.  And  which,  since  all  men  see 
through  them,  cannot  surely  be  hypocrisies  ?  For  my  part, 
I  devoutly  hope  that  Germany  did  know  what  she  was 
doing,  though  the  sequel  have  proved  beyond  mortal's  fore- 
cast. Let  her  have  courage;  for,  if  so,  the  ultimate  issue 
may  likewise  prove  beyond  mortal's  hope.  But  Germany 
was  the  only  one  that  took  this  course ;  and  took  it,  we  will 
hope,  in  a  courageous  simplicity.  Quarrel  not  with  the 
word;  or  do  so  to  your  heart's  content.  Took  it,  we  will 
hope,  in  faithfulness  to  the  fact;  and  the  more  awake  to 
and  prepared  for  the  probable  consequences  the  greater 
credit  to  her.  Boundless  clamour  there  at  once  was  and 
continues  to  be  that  she  took  it  in  duplicity ;  clamour  origi- 


OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES  33 

nating  in  presupposition  to  that  effect,  and  up  to  the  pres- 
ent not,  that  I  know  of,  supported  by  a  shred  of  evidence. 
For  the  notable  thing  to  me  in  these  despatches  is  that 
those  of  the  German  bear  the  impress  of  veracity;  they 
alone  are  not  condemnable  on  self-evidence,  but  cohere  to- 
gether consistently  throughout  as  the  words  of  men  that, 
in  spite  of  limitations,  did  essentially  mean  one  thing  be- 
fore God  and  the  same  thing  before  men ;  which  is  not  true 
of  those  of  any  of  the  others.  Of  these  others  so  far  as 
we  may  meetly  speak: 

The  Russian  ground  was  different;  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  damned  plea  of  Peace!  Lest  we  quarrel;  based 
itself  on  claim  of  weighty  interests  directly  affected,  in 
short,  of  being  a  party  to  the  dispute  and  not  an  outsider 
at  all.  Even  without  this,  and  in  a  total  disregard  of  the 
justice  of  the  dispute,  it  could  have  a  certain  validity: 
Two  fall  ajar ;  a  third  says  Let  them  fight  it  out ;  a  fourth 
No,  I'll  join  in:  All  these  might  find  solid  foothold  in  the 
wide  realm  of  nature's  truth,  intelligent  or  lustful;  but 
he  who  cries,  and  in  the  name  of  an  intelligent  humanity 
cries,  Stop !  Stop !  you  over  there,  lest  I  and  others,  leagues 
distant  from  you  and  unconcerned  in  your  debate,  should 
fall  out  with  one  another. — What  ground  has  he  to  stand 
on?  Vacuity.  A  very  meddlesome  fellow,  you  would 
say,  and  one  seeking  a  currying  with  a  diligence  not  easily 
matched.  But  for  the  Russian;  if  his  intervention  was 
primarily  directed  against  Austria  only,  which  of  us  is 
there  can  say  he  had  no  right  to  appear  on  the  field  and 
try  what  he  could  do  there?  One  does  not  know.  More- 
over one  allows  to  the  half-barbarous,  inarticulate,  a  sort 
of  brute  right  to  try  propensities — no  curtailment  of  an- 
other's right  to  drub  him  well  for  trying  them  and  so 
teach  the  animal  becoming  manners — such   as,   to  those 


34  OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES 

who  have  ever  known  higher  law,  one  could  by  no  means 
allow. 

But,  as  far  as  this  Austro-Servian  matter  went,  there  it 
should  have  stopped.  Nothing  in  it  was  cause  of  the  spread 
of  the  war  beyond.  That  Balkan  troubles  would  issue  in 
war  between  Austria  and  Russia  was  probable,  or  as  good 
as  certain;  but,  if  other  nations  made  alliances  which 
would  bring  them  into  conflict  in  that  event,  they  have  them- 
selves alone  to  thank  for  it. 

The  question,  therefore,  here  arises  Did  Germany's  Al- 
liance with  Austria  necessarily  bring  her  in  if  Russia  came 
in?  If  the  answer  to  that  be  affirmative,  Germany  smarts 
for  having  made  such  alliance.  The  answer  has  been  uni- 
versally concluded  affirmative;  yet  only  in  those  mad  as- 
sumptions of  international  compacts  whereby,  in  infallible 
sequel,  every  flea's  jump  was  to  set  the  world  on  fire. 
Concluded  affirmative?  Yes,  and  with  equal  readiness 
negative,  according  to  which  assumption  suited  the  right- 
eous British  arguer's  mood  at  the  moment.  If  the  terms 
of  the  Triple  made  the  answer  affirmative,  how  stands  Italy 
out,  and  imheaped  with  opprobrium  by  a  Britain  so  virtu- 
ously indignant  at  treaty  breakers?  You  know  very  well 
that  the  use  you  make  of  this  is  based  on  the  assumption 
the  answer  is  negative.  Sir  E.  Grey's  pleadings,  reported 
in  despatch  forty-six  (see  later  page  40),  also  presuppose 
the  negative,  though  the  Briton  there  arguing  that,  by  the 
International  Compacts,  Germany  was  not  bound  to  sup- 
port Austria  if  attacked  by  Russia  was  simultaneously  al- 
lowing that  France  was  bound  to  support  Russia  if  attacked 
by  Germany!  So  far  as  this  question,  of  Germany's  al- 
liance with  Austria  compelling  her  support  against  Russia, 
is  shrouded  in  doubt,  the  uncertainty  is  due  to  the  inex- 
tricable  interlacements  and   difficulty  of  separating  one 


OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES  35 

thing  from  so  many  other  simultaneous.  What  slender  tes- 
timony the  White  Paper  offers  is  against  an  affirmative: 
Germany  would  not  mobilize  if  Russia  only  mobilized  in 
South,  i.  e.,  against  Austria  alone.1  And,  in  truth,  there 
is  again  no  evidence  that  Germany  would  have  entered  if  a 
reasonable  assurance  existed  that  the  war  could  lie  be- 
tween Russia  and  Austria  merely;  on  the  contrary,  the 
evidence  is  that  she  would  not,  but  knew  this  too  hypo- 
thetical a  case  to  dwell  on. 

Assuming  the  negative,  namely  no  treaty-bond,  as  the 
British  did  when  it  suited  them,  Germany  were  only  con- 
demnable  for  her  armed  intervention  if:  1.  She  had  no 
title  by  the  complexion  of  the  present  case.  On  which 
Britain  argued:  Please  don't  have  any;  because  France, 
with  confessedly  none,  must  be  allowed  to  have  full  (see 
pp.  40-2.  2.  If  Russia  was  verily  not  meditating  hostility 
to  her  also.  And  the  poverty  of  these  White  Paper  de- 
spatches for  throwing  any  certain  light  on  that  point  is  too 
palpable;  they  are  here  too  exclusively  Ostensible!  We 
do  not,  however,  require  any  despatches  to  tell  us  that 
many  and  weighty  matters  existed  between  Germany  and 
her  huge  Eastern  neighbour,  nor  that  she  would  in  any 
event  be  very  closely  touched  by  a  war  between  that  coun- 
try and  Austria.  That  her  sympathies,  apart  from  all 
her  Alliances,  would  in  general  be  with  Austria  rather 
than  Russia,  and  that  her  interests  would  similarly  cause 
her  to  lean  the  same  way  are  likewise  foregone  conclusions. 
It  may  be  added,  also,  that  such  bias  was  in  the  main  ac- 
cordant with  justice  and  the  true  everliving  interests  of 
man,  though  of  this  we  have  more  to  say  under  Alliances. 
In  the  particular  instance,  by  the  evidence  before  us,  such 
as  it  is,  there  is  no  ground  to  doubt  that  Germany  sin- 
cerely wished  peace  between  Russia  and  Austria,  much 

despatch  No.  43;  also  108  and  121. 


36  OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES 

more  sincerely  than  we  wished  peace  with  her;  nor  that 
her  action  was  in  essence  defensive  against  Russian  Ag- 
gressive ;  some  momentary  gleam  of  a  possibility  of  stand- 
ing out,  if  properly  guaranteed,  swiftly  swallowed  in  the 
certainty  that  no  guarantee  would  be  given.  A  passing 
thought  of  guarantee  from  Russia  saving  spread  of  war, 
standing  in  strong  contrast  with  France's  eager  prestate- 
ment  she  would  take  none  from  Germany!  A  request  for 
self -security  vastly  different  from  the  demands  which  Brit- 
ain subsequently  made  of  the  German!  Who  never  said 
to  Russia:  You,  offering  not  even  the  colour  of  violence 
to  me,  seeking  my  friendship  rather,  shall  only  engage  with 
your  foe  on  terms  of  my  dictating;  whether  vanquished  or 
victor  shall,  in  conclusion,  go  home  again  with  nothing 
save  your  labour  for  your  trouble :  He  has  not  yet  reached 
these  depths  of  sanctimonious  effrontery.  Then,  leaving 
the  assumption  of  no  bond  or  predetermination  and  grant- 
ing that  Germany  had  made  express  treaty  to  support 
Austria,  or  from  the  start  of  the  Servian  dispute,  was 
resolved  to  support  Austria  if  interfered  with  in  that,  who 
is  there  can  say  she  was  wrong?  Britain,  of  all  nations 
on  earth,  by  her  own  conduct  in  the  further  developments 
here,  has  the  least  tittle  to  breathe  a  whisper  in  criticism  of 
such  determination  to  support  a  neighbour. 

"With  Germany  involved,  the  war  could  still  have  re- 
mained in  the  East;  nothing  save  Prance's  action  brought 
it  into  the  West.  But,  before  proceeding  to  that,  look  at 
these  despatches  pleading  for  peace  between  Austria  and 
Russia,  for  Germany  not  to  support  the  former. 

For  the  first :  They  are  all  identical  in  spirit  with  those 
pleading  for  peace  between  Austria  and  Servia.  The  one 
argument  submit  that  dispute  to  the  Power's  decision.    And 


OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES  I  37 

we  have  already  said  enough  of  that ;  need  not  express  our 
pious  thankfulness  that,  whatever  followed,  this  was  not 
again  done.  Russia  would  have  been  willing  for  it,  and  it 
is  made  guilt  in  the  two  Teutonic  nations  that  they  were 
not.  The  four  to  whom  the  decision  was  to  be  left  were 
Britain,  France,  Italy  and  Germany.  Three  of  those  four 
had  already  pronounced  adversely  to  the  Austrian:  much 
fairness  did  the  Slav  show !  Leave  it  to  the  Powers  again, 
who  have  so  often  happily  damped  it  down  before  and  ever 
to  spring  in  renewed  vigour  to-morrow.  The  Chairman 
Power  glorying  in  utter  contempt  of  the  justice  of  the 
quarrel;  the  minority  of  one  alone  having  ever  expressed 
the  least  care  for  this.  It  is  Germany 's  steady  refusal  to  be 
again  a  party  to  such  godless  futility  that  is  the  one  thing 
the  human  mind  can  dwell  on  without  loathing.  Help  me 
to  save  the  peace,  said  the  Briton.  With  all  my  heart ;  and 
earnestly  did  her  endeavour  to  further  reason  among  the 
parties,  ownful  of  unreason  in  her  ally,  too,  yet  aware  of 
the  iron  limits.  Britain  wished  peace  by  patching  up  the 
matter  anyhow,  lest  fire  kindled  scorch  her  own  pretty 
complexion:  Germany  wrought  for  peace  on  solid  basis, 
prepared  to  take  the  issues  of  it  proved  unattainable  solid : 
Which  is  really  the  criminal? 

For  the  second:  If  there  be  any  truly  British,  in  the 
grand  old  sense  when  the  word  was  synonymous  with  soul 
of  fair  play,  straightness  in  dealing,  generous  frankness  to 
foe  as  to  friend,  and,  however  completely  now  shut  out 
from  smallest  voice  in  their  nation's  deeds,  one  cannot  but 
believe  there  still  are  such  men,  these,  in  their  study  of  our 
White  Paper,  must  early  have  been  struck  with  a  certain 
thing,  which,  as  they  realised  its  proportions  and  signifi- 
cance, might  have  filled  them  with  amazed  horror  and 
indignation,  had  their  knowledge  otherwise  gained  of 
modern  British  statesmanship  left  room  for  amazement  or 


38  OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES 

special  indignation  at  any  trick  it  played  in  slippery 
cunning  or  course  it  pursued  openly  in  persuasion  of  mag- 
nanimity devoid  of  integrity.  What  I  refer  to  is  the 
proposals  made  by  Russia,  France  and  Italy  that  Britain 
should  declare  her  solidarity  with  the  two  former,  unite 
with  them  three,  or  two,  in  menace  of  Germany;  and  the 
way  those  proposals  were  listened  and  replied  to  by  Britain. 
The  proposal  is  first  made  strongly  in  despatch  number 
six  and  repeatedly  after.  Pray  announce  your  determina- 
tion to  fight  along  with  us,  if  Germany  persist  in  counte- 
nancing Austria ;  and,  in  the  face  of  such  a  threat,  she  will 
at  once  cower  out;  it  will  be  in  the  interests  of  peace  that 
you  should  do  so.  Sterling  Briton,  thus  addressed,  had,  in 
tone  of  sleeping  thunder  half  awakened,  answered :  Silence, 
sirrahs!  And  immediately  informed  the  German  of  the 
Proposal:  There,  sir,  friend  or  foe,  know  by  this  your 
neighbour's  tempers,  what  sort  of  impartial  hearing  they 
are  prepared  to  give  your  Ally 's  case.  And  do  you  suppose 
the  German  did  not  know  the  proposals  had  been  made; 
what  sort  of  answer  they  actually  got ;  find  himself  enlight- 
ened, if  further  enlightenment  he  needed,  as  to  British 
sincerity  in  sequent  suggestions  made  to  him?  Pinchbeck 
Briton,  all  gold  to  the  eye,  did  not  fall  in  with  the  pro- 
posals, much  less  answer  as  above.  He  received  them  in 
very  friendly  manner;  courteously  explained  his  discreet 
opinion  that  the  interests  of  peace  would  be  better  served 
if  he  continued  to  enact  the  role  of  disinterested  party; 
and — well,  continued  to  enact,  in  such  fashion,  now  fully 
transparent  to  all  eyes  friendly  or  hostile.  A  behaviour 
thoroughly  accordant  with  decadent  English  character  and 
solely  possible  to  men  steeped  to  the  bone  in  mendacity, 
swallowed  in  the  blackest  of  terrestrial  curses,  the  apotheo- 
sis of  Attorneyism;  gaining  for  itself  also  the  unanimous 
endorsement  of  the  masses    (similarly  saturate)    as  per- 


OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES  39 

fection  in  any  role  does.  It  is  second  nature  to  an  attorney 
to  plead  with  passion,  'real'  for  the  moment  by  his  brief, 
even  in  full  knowledge  of  facts  contrary;  and  the  Prime 
Minister,  later,  for  his  objects,  named  some  German  pro- 
posals infamous;  yet  have  I  met  no  Briton  who  knew  these 
to  be  so. 

And,  in  fact  they  were  not.  In  the  circumstances,  it  was 
nothing  perfidious  for  France  and  Russia  to  beg:  Unmis- 
takably announce  your  determination  to  fight  along  with 
us — since  you  are  so  determined.  No,  gentle  Allies — Beg 
pardon !  No,  loving  members  of  an  Entente  uncommitted, 
we  must  maintain  the  fiction — Alas !  I  stumble  again.  For 
of  course  it  was  no  fiction.  Of  course  not,  said  they.  And 
Husht!  Messieurs.  Who  said  I  was  determined  to  fight 
along  with  you?  We  see,  said  they.  Who  doubts  they 
saw?  It  were  a  dolt  indeed  that  did  not.  Yet  naturally 
persisted,  in  the  firmer  confidence  accrued,  to  urge  their 
view;  it  being  merely  a  difference  in  opinion  as  to  Osten- 
sibles,  the  reality  understood  to  mutual  satisfaction.  So 
Russia  'deplored'  the  effect  upon  Germany  of  a  notion 
that  Britain  would  stand  aside;  and  Grey  soothed  with  a 
Pooh!  Is  there  not  dumb  show  enough  in  our  fleet? 
Plenty  of  dumb  show  and  very  easy  to  read.  While 
France,  no  wise  abashed  by  the  comforting  answer,  con- 
tentedly toed  the  line  set  by  susceptibilities  of  British 
Conscience;  and  passed  on  to  discuss  preparations  in 
common  for  war — of  course  only  in  the  hypothetic  possibil- 
ity of  your  deciding  to  join  us :  We  will  not  again  press 
you  for  any  more  definite  assurance  on  that  head.  Most 
unnecessary  that  you  should,  Messieurs.  No,  the  proposals 
were  not  infamous.  Yet  I  know  of  few  things  better 
meriting  the  description  than  the  answers  they  got. 

Among  other  things  that  might  provoke  amazement,  but 
too  sorrowfully  cannot,  is  despatch  46,  where  Sir  E.  Grey 


40  OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES 

reports  his  having  had  the  impudence  to  'Observe'  to  the 
German  Ambassador  'that  if  Germany  assisted  Austria 
against  Russia  it  would  be  because  without  any  reference  to 
the  merits  of  the  dispute'  (italics  ours)  'Germany  could  not 
afford  to  see  Austria  crushed.'  This  in  face  of  the  clear 
fact  that  Germany  alone  had  ever  expressed  care  for  the 
justice  of  the  dispute,  and  had  at  the  very  start  plainly 
stated  her  belief  that  Austria  had  good  grounds  for  her 
proceedings  against  Servia,  and  ought  not  to  be  interfered 
with  in  them.  Sir  Edward  Grey  himself,  meanwhile,  having 
ever  unblushingly  expressed  a  total  indifference  to  the  jus- 
tice of  the  dispute;  and  in  another  despatch  of  the  same 
date,  number  forty-eight,  reiterates  that  if  Austria  could 
satisfy  Russia  she  might  do  what  she  liked  with  Servia. 
Merit  of  the  dispute !  Sop  Russia  and  damn  the  merit ;  it  is 
the  want  of  that  sop  alone  that  afflicts  me.  I  said  before, 
page  34,  that  this  observation  of  Grey's  presupposed 
belief  in  no  treaty  bond  of  Germany  to  Austria:  It  ob- 
viously ought,  but  I  would  not  take  oath  it  did.  And 
if  it  was  that  Germany  'could  not  afford  to  see  Austria 
crushed'  how  heinous  must  such  a  casus  belli  seem  to  every 
Briton  now  fighting  lest  France  should  be ! 

Britain,  enacting  the  impartial  role  and  rejecting  the 
comparatively  straightforward  course  proposed  by  France 
and  Russia,  that  of  a  united  menace,  had  her  own  ideas  as 
to  how  to  persuade  Germany  not  to  support  Austria;  of 
which  the  last  paragraph  affords  one  sample.  And,  in  our 
inquiry  of  veracity  shown,  the  results  continue  shameful 
to  this  land  our  nativity,  forbidden  veneration.  For  it 
argues  that  Germany  should  not  support  Austria  without 
ever  arguing,  or,  as  I  should  more  strictly  put  it,  without 
ever  having  argued,  that  France  should  not  support  Russia. 
This  could  only  pass  at  all  if  the  treaty  between  France 
and  Russia  was  much  more  definite  than  that  between 


OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES  '         41 

Germany  and  Austria;  I  have  met  nothing  worth  regard 
that  builds  on  this  assumption.  Allow  that  Germany  acted 
more  by  the  present  case,  will  Britain  call  this  less  rep- 
utable than  act  by  pledge  to  fight  regardless  of  present 
case  ?  That  Britain  which  professed  free  hand  and  gloried 
in  the  right  to  decide  by  instant  merits  in  each  conjuncture. 
But  the  truth  is  that  this  has  passed  with  the  hasty  mob 
through  a  fact  of  sequence  which  a  moment's  reflection 
shows  you  did  not  affect  the  matter  in  the  slightest  degree, 
could  never  by  deliberate  statesmen  have  been  imagined  to 
do  so.  France  would  not  enter  the  field  unless  Germany 
did.  No,  nor  Germany  unless  Russia  did.  This  fact,  that 
France  was  to  be  the  third  stepper,  Germany  the  second, 
does  not  touch  the  matter  here  at  issue,  namely  the  integ- 
rity or  wisdom  of  either  in  entering.  Britain  deliberately 
besought  Germany  to  leave  her  Ally  undefended  if  attacked 
and  never  the  while  so  much  as  whispered  suggestion  to 
France  that  she  should  similarly  leave  her  Ally  in  the 
lurch ;  yet  whatsoever  applied  to  the  one  case  applied  with 
equal  force  to  the  other.  Nay,  with  much  greater  force! 
For  Germany  was  necessarily  closely  touched  by  war  be- 
tween Austria  and  Russia,  France  not  by  war  between 
Russia  and  Germany,  far  removed  from  her  borders.  More- 
over there  is  very  strong  prima  facie  evidence  that  except 
for  her  confident  assurance  of  France's  support,  Russia 
would  never  have  done  aught  provocative  to  Germany,  that, 
had  there  been  no  such  assurance,  the  war  might  have  re- 
mained between  Russia  and  Austria.  Still  Britain  kept 
arguing  with  Germany:  Don't  you,  convinced  of  justice 
in  your  Ally 's  quarrel,  support  her ;  yet  never  said  a  word 
of  similar  import  to  France ;  knew  fully  from  the  start,  as 
all  the  world  did,  for  this  was  public  property  and  known 
to  be  without  an  if,  that  France  was  definite  to  strike  in. 
Nothing  save  that  knowledge  produced  the  pleading:  As 


42  OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES 

I  said  before  (p.  35)  the  plea  was,  Forego  your  title  because 
France  must  be  allowed  full  tether  for  hers.  A  long 
tether?  Ay,  and  a  strong,  could  haul  the  whole  British 
Empire  in.  One  sees  not  what  business  Britain  had  to  sug- 
gest either  that  Germany  should  not  support  Austria  or 
France  Kussia,  but  to  urge  the  first  without  the  second  was 
totally  indefensible.  If  we  had  right  to  plead  so  with 
either,  then  overwhelmingly  the  greater  right  to  plead  with 
France ;  because  of  the  mighty  obligations  which  our  states- 
men well  knew,  though  the  country  at  large  did  not,  she 
was  under  to  us;  in  reality  only  daring  to  act  as  she  did 
from  confidence  of  British  cover.  Finally,  of  this,  be  it 
clear  that  I  am  not  suggesting  it  was  really  possible  for 
Britain,  in  those  late  hours,  to  demand  of  France,  to  hint 
to  France,  that  she  should  not  support  Russia;  but  the 
fact  that  it  was  impossible  made  it  perfidy  in  her  to  ask 
the  passivity  she  did  from  the  German. 

Proceeding  now  to  the  question  of  French  intervention; 
also  of  Britain's  sincerity  of  wish  that  the  war  should 
remain  in  the  East:  With  Germany  involved,  of  which 
question  we  have  already  spoken,  it  is,  of  course,  palpably 
undeniable  that  nothing  except  a  declaration  of  neutrality 
by  France  could  have  prevented  war  in  the  West;  and 
equally  undeniable  that  such  declaration  would.  Here,  in 
the  case  of  war  in  the  Western  theatre,  it  is  perfectly 
certain  that  the  French  and  the  English  were  the  aggres- 
sors, that  Germany  acted  as  compelled  for  self-defence. 
By  the  circumstances,  absolutely  no  manner  of  call  lay 
upon  France  to  join  in:  Word  pledged  to  Russia  is  the 
utmost  she  can  plead.  I  say  not  that  the  word  pledged 
should  not  be  sacred,  but  bid  you  note  that  there  was 
absolutely  no  other  ground.  If  any  mortal  believe  that 
the  word  was  either  given  or  kept  just  for  God's  sake,  why 


OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES  43 

afflict  his  innocence?     And  therewith  and  we  will  leave 
France's  share  to  her  own  conscience. 

But,  on  the  no-question  of  France  or  Germany  the  ag- 
gressor add :  France,  toeing  the  line  to  suit  susceptibilities 
of  British  conscience  and  bettering  instruction,  kept  ten 
kilometres  from  her  frontiers  after  mobilisation;  and,  an- 
ticipating demand  of  neutrality  from  Germany,  as  known 
not  aggressive  upon  her,  had  many  times  stated  she  would 
never  give  it.  Yet,  by  these  delicacies  of  manoeuvre  has 
persuaded  you  of  her  lamb-like  intentions,  Germany's 
wanton  inroad,  in  character  of  devouring  wolf? — And  of 
the  eleventh  hour  treble  Peace  still!  Both  Russia  and 
Austria  have  consented,  so  exquisitely  set  off  to  an  ad- 
miring audience  by  these  French  trippings  on  the  light 
fantastic  toe,  what  other  word  than  simply,  Too  late! 
Germany  could  not  possibly  pause  then  on  any  plea  of 
further  discussion.  Delay  would  have  been  extremely  ad- 
vantageous to  every  other,  her  Ally  included;  to  herself 
perilous.  What  sort  of  sincerity  there  was  in  the  Austrian 
consent  you  have  but  to  read  despatch  one  hundred  and 
forty-one  to  know;  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  for  Rus- 
sia's humour  to  Germany  in  her  consent,  aforesaid  very 
cheap.  With  such  odours  regaling  her  nostrils,  Germany 
would  have  been  a  nose  of  wax  indeed  to  pause.  The 
plea  was  the  old  accursed  futility  of  submit  the  Austro- 
Servian  matter  to  the  Powers  for  settlement,  with  certain- 
ly no  increase  of  likelihood  that  a  peaceable  patch-up  till 
to-morrow  would  be  once  more  arrived  at.  A  ground  for 
suspension  which  none  honourable  could  then  have  made  to 
the  German;  which  no  German  who  knew  what's  what 
could  at  that  hour  do  other  than  totally  disregard.  That, 
in  a  straight,  courteous  manfulness,  compliance  was  ex- 
plained impossible  is  creditable,  for  the  suggestion  might 
justly  have  been  altogether  ignored. 


44  OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES 

For  England's  sincerity  of  wish  that  the  war  shoald 
remain  in  the  East: 

Alas !  it  is  a  sort  of  mockery  to  speak  of  sincerity  in  her 
doings  here.  Yet  I  grant  that,  when  the  inevitable  sequel 
of  his  acts  comes  upon  a  man,  he  may  often  wish  intensely 
enough  that  they  could  be  avoided,  and  exhibit  a  spectacle 
of  very  strenuous  zeal  in  that  direction.  England,  in  a  full 
knowledge  that  France  had  engaged  herself  to  Eussia, 
entered  into  what  you  call  an  Entente  with  her.  Not  an 
Alliance  ?  Oh,  no !  Count  Bruhl,  a  famishing  dog  in  sight 
of  a  too  dangerous  leg  of  mutton,  long  comforted  himself 
he  had  never  signed  anything;  but  this  did  not  help  him 
out  of  Pirna,  if  considerably  into.  Maria  Theresa,  too,  with 
troops  ready  massed  on  the  border  and  Allies  on  march, 
when  demanded  would  she  attack  him  (Friedrich)  this 
year  or  next  ?  replied  vaguely  in  limbo,  swore  the  Partition 
Treaty  against  him  non-extant,  a  thing  of  his  own  imagina- 
tion merely.  Whereon  Carlyle  comments:  Since  she 
would  have  shuddered  at  the  lie  direct,  I  suppose  it  was  not 
on  paper;  but  truer  in  fact  no  treaty  could  be.  Had 
England  ever  honestly  wrought  that  war  in  the  East  of 
Europe  should  not  cause  war  in  the  West,  she  would  have 
used  her  endeavours  to  induce  France  to  terminate  her 
Alliance  with  Eussia ;  for  this  Alliance  was  the  standing 
menace,  and  sole  cause  why  war  in  the  East  should  provoke 
war  in  the  West.  Had  England  ever  wrought  that  she 
herself  should  not  be  involved  in  war  through  war  in  the 
East,  she  would  have  absolutely  refused  to  enter  into  any 
arrangement  with  France  so  long  as  her  alliance  with 
Eussia  existed;  would  have  made  the  termination  of  that 
alliance  an  inexorable  sine  qua  non  before  she  put  herself 
under  any  species  of  obligation  to  assist  France.  These 
are  certain  facts,  wholly  indisputable.  But  England  was 
possessed  with  a  dread  of  German  Aggression,  to  the  blind- 


OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES  45 

ing  of  her  eyes  and  the  corruption  of  her  heart;  equally 
by  them.  And  she  wrought  persistently  in  favour  of 
mighty  Combination  which  should  effectually  checkmate 
German  evil  intentions.  Not  wishful  of  war.  If  you  please 
so  to  describe  it,  passionately  desirous  to  preserve  peace; 
and  hoping  to  do  so  by  raising  such  a  formidable-looking 
barrier  all  round  the  Bad  Teuton  that  he  would  never  dare 
to  try  breaking  it,  but  die  in  sight  of  victuals  like  goose  sur- 
rounded by  a  circle  drawn  with  chalk.  For  never  yet  were 
the  counsels  of  men  with  such  an  aim  informed  by  wisdom, 
but  always  have  their  plans  been  shady,  and  their  workings 
brought  upon  them  the  thing  they  chiefly  sought  to  avoid. 

Last,  in  these  Ostensibles,  is  Britain's  Intervention. 
Let  us  look  first,  though  it  does  not  come  first  in  time, 
at  that  peculiar  offer  made  by  Sir  Edward  Grey,  which 
has  been  applauded,  by  Sir  E.  T.  Cook  among  others,  as 
a  sort  of  acme  in  magnanimous  generosity,  and  sealing 
proof  of  intents  charitable.      It   is   in   despatch  number 
one  hundred  and  one,  where   Grey  offers  thus:   'If  the 
peace  of  Europe  can  be  preserved  and  the  present  crisis 
safely  passed,  my  own  endeavour  will  be  to  promote  some 
arrangement  to  which  Germany  could  be  a  party,  by  which 
she  could  be  assured  that  no  aggressive  or  hostile  policy 
would  be  pursued  against  her  or  her  allies  by  France, 
Russia,  and  ourselves,  jointly  or  separately.     I  have  de- 
sired this  and  worked  for  it,  as  far  as  I  could,  through 
the  last  Balkan  Crisis,  and  Germany  having  a  correspond- 
ing object,  our  relations  sensibly  improved.    The  idea  has 
hitherto  been  too  Utopian,  Etc. '    Of  the  value  of  such  an 
offer,   in   International  Politics,   from  the  point  of  view 
of  its  being  that  of  a  single  individual  in  the  insecure 
tenure  of  a  British  State  Secretaryship,  it  is  superfluous 
to  speak.     Granting  the  promise  binding  on  the  nation, 


46  OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES 

on  the  three  nations,  it  would  remain  sufficiently  peculiar. 
In  the  first  place  it  admits — shall  we  say  frankly  admits  ? — 
helplessly  and  in  spite  of  itself,  admits  were  nearer  the 
mark,  that  the  attitude  of  the  three  so  promising  nations 
had  been  and  was  of  a  nature  to  somewhat  strongly  call 
for  assurance  from  them  that  their  intents  were  not  hostile 
or  aggressive;  and  may  surely  at  once  pass  muster  as  so 
far  veridical.  Whether  the  German  would  find  it  an  item 
of  much  weight  in  assuring  him  of  the  fact  so  acknowl- 
edged? Hardly,  I  should  think.  Might  better  find  it  a 
sealing  proof  of  the  quality  of  our  magnanimity  and  char- 
itable purpose.  But  the  message  did  not  intend  to  convey 
recriminations  on  the  past,  nor  shed  light  on  it;  it  was  for 
security  in  the  future.  Dear  friend,  not  foe  I  hope  this 
instant,  submit  to-day,  at  our  ardent  intercession  let 
Austria  go  to  pot,  and  I  for  reward,  will  promise  to  do  my 
private  utmost  in  the  to-morrows  to  obtain  for  you  an 
Agreement  whereby  each  of  these  three  now  in  threatened 
league  against  you  shall  enter  into  bond  that  they  will 
never  more,  either  singly  or  collectively,  pursue  a  policy 
aggressive  or  hostile  to  you.  Such  fact,  to  drunk  sense  too 
Utopian,  was  all  you  ever  sought,  bond  for  it  you  never 
asked.  But  never  again!  Never  again!  I  swear  it  on 
my  knees  beseeching  grace.  This  shall  be  a  lesson  to  me  all 
my  days  remaining.  If  we  can  read  it  quite  so  without 
stretch,  some  breath  of  personal  sympathy  for  Grey  may 
well  be  in  us.  O,  Sir  Edward !  this  turn  dropped  from  my 
pen  as  I  wrote,  without  premeditation,  and  has  banished 
all  harsh  feeling  toward  you.  For  I  can  believe  it  may 
have  been  thus  with  you.  Yet  the  leopard  does  not  change 
his  spots.  And  as  for  any  species  of  security  to  Germany 
in  the  future  having  been  hereby  offered,  there  is  not  the 
shadow  of  such  a  thing.  Did  the  remorseful  one,  really  or 
hypothetically  remorseful,  himself  even  contemplate  a  re- 


OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES  47 

moval  of  the  fences,  not  a  strengthening  of  them,  if  given 
further  time  to  do  it  in?  Checkmate  to  be  abandoned? 
Perhaps  I  should  not  have  gone  so  far  in  these  ambiguous 
realms.  Perpetual  check,  check,  without  a  mate — or  for 
your  mate's  sake,  and  your  own — is  also  a  known  thing; 
if  often  pleasing  to  the  checker,  somewhat  liable  to  grow 
irritating  to  the  eheckee.  Then  stalemate  is  surely  the 
fairest  draw  of  all,  long  reckoned  even,  and  leaving  hon- 
our to  the  staled.  Chalk  line  itself  can  be  charitably 
circumscribed,  the  confined  ones  grow  fat  enough;  all  cir- 
cumscribers  consent  they'll  not  disturb  the  circle,  and  the 
Goose  clearly  a  party  to  the  compact.  Happy  stay  within, 
instead  of  discontented;  and  our  Policy  triumph  at  last. 
See !  child,  we  will  teach  you  to  build  your  own  ring  wall, 
at  least  you  shall  have  a  hand  in  building  it,  then  shall 
you  sit  blessed  in  freedom  from  check,  whilst  we  sweep 
wide  o'er  the  earth  in  unburdened  cheer.  The  offer  was 
peculiar;  if  you  can  read  a  gleam  of  private  grace  in  it, 
'tis  happy  so  far;  but  to  speak  of  it  as  magnanimous,  to 
refer  to  it  in  any  way  as  of  the  smallest  weight  in  the 
issues,  betokens  strange  latitudes. 

These  things  are  a  little  pregnant,  reader!  Choice  of 
sequence,  not  unadvised,  would  you  grapple  with  the  whole. 
Turn  back,  then,  to  what  is  called  The  Infamous  German 
Bid  for  British  Neutrality. 

I  will  say  foremost  that  this  British  description  of  Ger- 
many's conduct  is  ' amazing,'  even  to  me.  I  have  nowhere 
met  the  like  of  it;  in  sheer  sodden  mendacity  of  soul,  it 
surpasses  everything  of  its  kind  I  have  heard  of,  and 
deserves  to  be  held  in  permanent  record  as  a  non  plus  ultra 
in  that  line.  Here  is  no  knave's  shuffle,  no  hypocrite's 
deliberate  suppression  of  the  truth,  but  an  open,  publicly 
declared  and  printed,  statement  of  the  facts  as  they  were ; 
and  then  an  interpretation  instantly  concluded  of  them, 


48  OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES 

for  campaign  of  unctuous  eloquence  and  self-righteous  in- 
dignation, excuse  and  cover  of  most  fateful  deed,  utterly 
and  glaringly  in  total  incompatibility  with  those  facts,  for 
which  those  facts  offered  no  momentary  possibility  of  a 
conceivable   colour  to   any  honest-minded    mortal.     Such 
emphatic  stricture  may  not  apply  to  many  members  of 
the  general  public  who  only  heard  of  the  facts  through 
the  interpretation,  or  along  with  it;  but  I  could  not  reduce 
a  syllable  of  this  stricture  for  the  men  who  gave  out  the 
interpretation  at  the  same  time  that  they  made  the  facts 
known.     Germany,  looking  into  now  almost  certain  war 
with  Russia,  and  knowing,  as  you  and  all  the  world  did, 
that  France  would  not  remain  neutral  but  side  with  Russia, 
aware  also  of  certain  vain  pretensions  tenanted  in  British 
lodgings  too  sadly  furnished  with  them,  had  the  candour 
and  forbearance,  suppressing  all  comment  on  those  pre- 
tensions, to  say  thus,  through  her  Chancellor:     'That  it 
was  clear,  so  far  as  he  was  able  to  judge  the  main  principle 
which  governed  British  policy,  that  Great  Britain  would 
never  stand  by  and  allow  France  to  be  crushed  in  any 
conflict  there  might  be.1    That,  however,  was  not  the  object 
at  which  Germany  aimed.     Provided  that  neutrality  of 
Great  Britain   were  certain,   every  assurance  would   be 
given  to  the  British  Government  that  the  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment aimed  at  no  territorial  acquisition  at  the  expense 
of  France  should  they  prove  victorious  in  any  war  that 
might  ensue. 
'I  (Sir  E.  Goschen)  questioned  his  Excellency  about  the 
French  Colonies,  and  he   (the  German  Chancellor)   said 
that  he  was  unable  to  give  a  similar  undertaking  in  that 
respect.     As  regards  Holland,  however,  His  Excellency 
said  that,  so  long  as  Germany's  adversaries  respected  the 

1  That  same  Britain  that  a  little  before  had  called  it  unwarrantable 
for  Germany  to  refuse  to  stand  by  and  see  Austria  crushed. 


OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES  49 

'integrity  and  neutrality  of  the  Netherlands,  Germany  was 
'ready  to  give  His  Majesty's  Government  an  assurance  that 
'she  would  do  likewise.  It  depended  on  the  action  of 
'  France  what  operations  Germany  might  be  forced  to  enter 
'upon  in  Belgium,  but  when  the  war  was  over,  Belgian 
'integrity  would  be  respected  if  she  had  not  sided  against 
'Germany.'  (Despatch  number  eighty-five.)  What  is  there 
either  of  'bid'  or  'infamy'  in  this?  What  did  you  expect 
of  Germany?  That  when  engaged  in  war  eastward,  she 
should  just  shoulder  arms  along  her  western  border ;  stand 
patiently  waiting  there  till  the  French  were  ready  to  attack 
her ;  and  then,  in  height  of  fantastic  heroism  merely  defend 
the  border,  resolutely  brush  back,  if  she  could  (you  will 
allow  her  that  right,  I  suppose?)  any  French  attempt  to 
cross.  Yet  never  under  any  provocation  herself  set  foot 
beyond;  and,  when  the  war  was  over,  retire  with  sage 
bow  and  lifted  hat,  remarking,  Our  deepest  thanks  to  you, 
Messieurs,  for  this  spiritual  exercise,  and  all  good  hopes 
the  amusement  has  proved  beneficial  to  you.  It  verily 
seems  that  little  short  of  this  would  have  contented  you. 
And  I  know  that  your  rage  arose  through  finding  your 
baseless  prescriptions  not  obeyed  and  diplomacy  turned 
to  water.  What  shadow  of  a  title  had  Britain  to  settle 
the  terms  on  which  Germany  should  fight  France,  that 
Britain  which  had  never  done  aught  to  keep  France  from 
seizing  opportunity  to  satisfy  grudge  ?  Is  Britain  the  God 
of  this  lower  world  ?  And  what  just  God  would  lend  cover 
to  one  to  side  against  another,  then  forbid  that  other  to 
exact  the  least  penalty  if  victorious?  You  call  it  an 
infamous  bid  by  Germany,  and  the  fact  was  an  infamous 
dictation  of  terms  by  Britain.  Infamous  dictation  wisely 
recognised  extant,  and  dealt  with  in  an  admirable  restraint. 
The  German,  wisely  perceiving  the  existence  of  certain 
pretensions  in  some  heads,  where,  however  baseless  in  fact, 


50  OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES 

their  existence  can  in  verity  become  momentous  enough, 
saw  that  it  could  profit  nothing  to  give  the  least  expression 
to  his  thoughts  of  those  pretensions,  though  we  need  not 
doubt  he  had  his  thoughts,  but  in  a  manful  prudence 
mildly  enquired :  How  far  do  these  Olympian  ideas  extend  ? 
Beyond  this?  And  Britain,  in  immovable  majesty,  dis- 
daining affront,  replied  from  aloft :  Of  course,  far  beyond. 
Not  outgone  in  forbearance  at  the  first  blush,  merely  with 
the  eye  suggested :  Darest  propose  a  limit  to  our  sovereign 
jurisdiction  ?  Who  could  treat  with  you,  Gentlemen  ?  Ger- 
many may  defend  her  countries,  quite  large  enough  for 
her  in  our  supreme  decision,  our  Almightiness  graciously 
concedes  so  much;  but,  by  our  omnipotence,  and  world- 
shaking  nod,  let  her  expend  what  blood  and  treasure  she 
may,  she  shall  go  home  again  with  nothing  save  her  labour 
for  her  trouble ;  no  hair  of  France 's  head  shall  be  harmed, 
and  she,  meanwhile,  under  our  sheltering  wing,  have  free 
allowance,  if  victorious,  to  keep  whate'er  she  can  wrench. 
O  soul  of  Equity!  must  not  the  whole  just  of  the  earth 
rise  in  sternest  wrath  to  crush  the  thievish  miscreant  would 
not  before  entering  conflict  take  oath  on  demand  at  once 
and  humbly  to  observe  these  righteous  terms?  Truly,  I 
have  never  met  their  match,  and  grow  in  respect  for  the 
German  could  still  restrain  and  try  yet  further :  Will  you 
if  we  promise  not  to  infringe  Belgian  neutrality — and  even, 
it  would  seem  by  speech  in  Parliament,  though  it  is  not  in 
White  Paper,  forego  our  right  to  attack  the  northern  coasts 
of  France — shall  you,  even  on  these  extreme  compliances 
with  your  Lordship's  arbitrium — and  bravely,  without  a 
hint  they  were  compliances  and  the  arbitrium  most  ex- 
suffiicate — refuse  to  promise  neutrality  ?  Imperious  Yes,  we 
will  and  do  refuse.  We  may  perhaps,  on  those  conditions, 
permit  you  to  enter  the  war  without  us  for  terrible  opposite, 
but  will  give  you  no  manner  of  assurance  that,  once  in,  we 


OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES  51 

will  not  fall  upon  you  in  time  and  circumstance  convenient 
for  us.  'Tis  easy  now  to  see  that  the  second  offer  was 
useless;  for  he  who  named  the  first  a  'bid'  and  'infamous' 
could  only  be  confirmed  in  exalted  spurn  by  an  amendment 
conceding  more  to  folly's  vain  impious  challengings.  0 
British  Jove  offended!  ominously  grasping  the  lightning, 
I  can  tell  you  one  way  in  which  Germany's  'bid'  if  then 
ever  made,  might  have  been  infamous.  The  way  of  own 
course  honourable,  when  the  bare  suggestion  of  your  dream- 
ing to  lay  down  a  rule  whereby  she  should  fight  might 
well  have  shocked  you  with  its  atrocity. 

Along  with  this  claim  to  dictate  the  conditions  of  Ger- 
many 's  combat  with  France,  simultaneous  throughout,  runs 
the  figment  of  British  Free  Hand,  no  binding  obligation  to 
bestir  on  France's  behalf,  but  liberty  to  take  any  side 
according  to  judgment  of  merits  of  each  particular  case 
might  arise.  You  pledge  yourself  to  maintain  Belgian  neu- 
trality (whereon  a  word  further  shortly)  ;  you  stand  re- 
solved that  you  will  permit  to  Germany  no  territorial 
acquisitions  at  the  expense  of  France,  or  her  Colonies,  in 
other  words,  that,  if  she  have  war  with  France,  she  shall 
on  its  conclusion  go  home  again  with  nothing  but  her 
labour  for  her  trouble;  what  more  one  knows  not;  but 
finally,  and  above  all,  you  undertake  to  protect  the  northern 
coasts  of  France  and  prevent  by  force  any  attack  upon 
them  by  Germany.  And  then  you  say  you  were  not  under 
treaty  obligations  to  fight  on  France 's  behalf !  Never  was 
more  hideous  mockery  of  faith ;  vilest  conspiracy,  plotting 
for  attack  and  partition,  were  clean  in  comparison.  Those 
despatches  of  Sir  Edward  Grey's,  wherein  he  expounded  to 
France  and  Russia  the  delicate  and  fine  distinctions  which 
left  Britain  no  treaty  ally  but  a  member  of  Entente,  with 
hand  free,  were  not  purposely  cunning  at  all,  yet  did 


52  OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES 

simply  point  the  way.  The  Russ  was  thick  of  comprehen- 
sion at  first,  but  the  nimble  Celt  perceived  in  a  twinkling, 
and  with  eyes  privately  twinkling,  though  listening  to  Sir 
Edward 's  dissections  with  all  sobriety  of  countenance.  Just 
so,  your  Excellency.  The  British  Lion  owns  no  harness, 
and  the  Island  Ape  which  rides  him  cannot  intervene 
except  under  certain  contingencies.  Adieu,  till  to-morrow ; 
we  will  not  importune  you  till  wanted,  and  when  wanted 
you  have  told  us.  "We  proceed  then  alone,  yet  secure  of 
your  aid  the  moment  we  act  thus  and  thus.  [Incredible  as 
it  may  seem  to  a  German,  only  credible  as  it  is  to  Man  when 
sadly  conversant  with  the  phosphorescences  which  once 
noble  moralities  gone  putrid  sometimes  exhibit,  Sir  E.  Grey 
did  not  mean :  Act  you  in  such  and  such  a  fashion  in  order 
that  our  hands  may  appear  clean  to  the  world;  he  wrote 
in  sincerity,  what  is  called  sincerity,  yet  no  whit  the  less 
simply  pointed  the  way.] 

Instead  of  open  declaration  of  common  cause  with 
France,  conclusion  of  definite  alliance  offensive  and  defen- 
sive, you  gave  France  secretly  the  utmost  cover  it  was  in 
your  power  to  give  short  of  such  definite  bond,  and  prop- 
erly it  was  not  for  France's  sake  but  for  your  own.  And 
then,  if  the  German  would  have  conformed  to  the  outrage- 
ous conditions  imposed  on  him  by  that  cover,  you  might 
perhaps  have  been  content  to  stand  neutral.  Great  was 
your  magnanimity!  noble  your  rage  that  the  Teuton  re- 
jected your  conditions.  The  Prime  Minister  made  a  great 
point  in  his  speech,  and  inflamed  the  country  with  'in- 
famous' German,  by  exclaiming:  Were  we  to  stand  by 
with  folded  arms  and  see  the  northern  coast  of  France 
bombarded !  that  coast  left  undefended  through  our  agree- 
ments with  France !  Most  true,  by  your  agreements!  How 
came  those  coasts  to  be  defenceless?  Why  was  the  French 
fleet  concentrated  in  the  Mediterranean?     You  secretly 


OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES  53 

made  compact  to  defend  those  coasts  so  that  the  French 
fleet  could  leave  them;  and  then  exclaim  as  if  their  de- 
fenceless state  were  one  of  helpless  innocence,  calling  to 
humanity  for  protection,  came  by  no  subtilty  of  yours; 
and  say  you  had  free  hand  to  decide  every  case  on  its 
merits !  It  is  the  f earf ulest  exhibition  of  shameless  sodden 
mendacity  I  have  come  across ;  no  '  perfidy '  could  be  worse, 
if  this  be  not  perfidious.  You  wished  peace  you  say? 
And,  to  preserve  it,  privately  made  arrangement  with  one 
neighbour  which  gave  him  the  fullest  cover  you  could  con- 
trive; for  the  other,  had  thereby  laid  down  conditions  of 
combat  utterly  outrageous,  devoid  of  any  sort  of  basis 
ouside  your  own  convenience:  Then  proclaim  yourself 
Champion  of  Right  unwillingly  forced  into  war  by  consid- 
erations of  highest  duty,  because  the  one  made  that  use  of 
the  cover  afforded  him  he  was  sure  to  make  and  the  other 
refused  your  delirious  prescriptions  of  conduct  for  him ! 

On  the  question  of  Belgian  Neutrality  it  is  not  necessary 
to  say  more  than  a  word  further.  One  could  have  well 
wished  it  respected  by  all,  but  knows  not  how  it  could  have 
been  so  by  Germany.  One  thing  is  quite  certain,  it  was 
not  Britain  that  should  have  been  foremost  in  demanding 
it,  but  Belgium  herself,  in  direct  friendly  interchange  with 
Germany,  not  through  appeal  to  Britain  in  preconclusion 
of  hostility  and  palpable  leaning  to  one  side ;  or,  next,  by 
France,  equally  in  the  way  of  direct  mutual  agreement 
with  Germany;  and  Britain  only,  if  at  all,  as  honestly  im- 
partial third.  But  it  is  folly  to  speak  of  the  probities 
which  might  have  been.  Alas!  no,  which  never  had  a 
chance  of  being.  For  Britain  to  demand  it  as  she  did, 
especially  in  conjunction  with  other  items  in  the  same 
despatch,  was  at  once  a  threat  of  Beware!  or  I  come  in, 
unless  you  conform  to  my  rules  as  self-constituted  Marshal 


54  OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES 

of  these  Lists.  And  thus,  to  the  German,  the  thing  was 
from  the  first  suspicious,  and  to  be  rejected,  as  obviously 
not  demanded  for  equity  but  in  the  interests  of  his  ad- 
versaries. For  Germany  to  grant  it,  too,  was  a  much 
heavier  demand  than  for  France.  The  German  said  he 
had  unimpeachable  evidence  that  France  meant  to  attack 
him  in  that  quarter;  and  personally,  I  have  little  doubt 
the  French  assurance  was  given  in  the  certainty  it  would 
never  be  required  of  them  to  fulfil  it;  that  the  swifter 
moving  German  would  be  the  first  to  cross  the  border, 
and  so  they  could  throw  the  opprobrium  upon  him  without 
risk  to  themselves.  For  the  Belgians,  it  is  sure  that, 
however  they  may  have  desired  to  escape  damage,  they 
were  not  neutral  of  spirit  but  exceedingly  adverse  to  Ger- 
many. It  has  been  said,  since  the  war  began,  that,  if 
France  had  violated  Belgian  Neutrality,  Britain  would 
equally  have  gone  to  war:  It  is  sufficiently  probable  she 
would — on  just  the  same  side  she  now  has.  Britain  would 
not  have  sided  with  Germany  against  France  for  Belgium 's 
sake.  All  men  know  that  completely,  and  the  saying  she 
would  is  a  deliberate  Lie,  straightforward  enough  for  once. 
A  thing  just  safely  said  after,  known  without  any  founda- 
tion. A  most  godless  farce  is  all  this  pretence  of  British 
championship  of  Belgium.  On  every  ground,  care  of  Bel- 
gium 's  welfare  would  have  counselled :  Yield.  On  that  com- 
pulsion, yield;  grant  the  Germans  the  free  passage  they 
demand.  This  alone  had  been  the  magnanimous  course, 
and  most  earnest  persuasion  of  any  champion  for  Belgium. 
I  am  not  quite  saying  you  were  called  to  do  this;  but  you 
are  emphatically  called  to  admit  that,  in  urging  Belgium  to 
resist  to  the  utmost  on  promises  of  help  you  knew  could 
never  reach  her  in  time,  you  were  deliberately  throwing 
her  under  the  harrow  of  war,  to  possible  loss  of  national 
independence,  for  no  other  object  than  to  gain  time  for 


OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES  55 

yourselves.  Had  Belgium  then  been  Ally  the  urgement  to 
resist  had  been  fair;  to  a  neutral,  it  had  nothing  in  it 
'magnanimous,'  can  only  pass  as  natural  to  self-seekers 
diligent  to  use  all  means  within  reach  to  gain  their  own 
ends.  Neither  is  there  any  manner  of  doubt  that  Britain 
solely  ever  undertook  to  support  Belgian  Neutrality  by 
force  for  her  own  interests  in  fear  of  Germany's  power. 

In  summary  of  these  Ostensible  Causes:  Except,  it  is 
a  big  exception,  Britain's  possession  by  dread  of  German 
Aggression,  involuntarily  made  all  too  apparent,  no  Real 
Cause  comes  to  light.  And,  when  you  speak  of  Real  Causes, 
you  have  to  ask,  even  of  that  Dread,  whence  came  it?  "What 
ground,  if  any,  had  it  to  stand  on  ?  Hence  no  answer  what- 
ever is  given  here  to  the  question — "Why  are  we  at  war? 
but  only  is  how  we  have  come  to  be  at  war  a  little  told.  And 
the  true  value  of  these  White  Paper  Despatches  is  as  docu- 
ments testifying  of  the  integrity  of  the  several  writers,  as 
representing  their  nations,  or  at  least  Governments.  In 
this  view,  the  Servian  is  cunning  shifty,  and  wittingly  never 
shows  true  face.  The  Austrian  and  Russian  keep  their 
motives  hidden,  reveal  to  impertinent  curiosity  no  more 
than  their  proud  heights  deem  suitable.  The  French  are 
clear,  incisive,  declare  a  singleness  of  purpose,  whatever 
wiliness  of  method ;  namely  to  make  the  most  of  the  oppor- 
tunity if  it  come  now,  with  readiness  to  wait  for  a  better 
if  need  be.  In  the  German  a  grand  resolvedness,  weight 
of  meaning,  sagacious  instead  of  alert;  very  determined 
indeed,  yet  restrained  forbearance,  rising  to  fateful  enter- 
prise unescapable  in  meditations  cloudy  profound;  their 
words  have  everywhere  a  right  sterling  ring.  In  the 
British  an  utter  hollowness,  most  zealous  pleading  far  re- 
moved from  all  contact  with  the  facts.    No  secrecy  of  the 


56  OSTENSIBLE  CAUSES 

conscious  hypocrite,  but  that  bottomless  mendacity  which, 
self-contemplating  its  own  false  face  truly  rendered  back 
in  the  mirror,  cries  on  the  world  to  witness,  Saw  ye  ever 
a  fairer  or  more  blameless ! 


CHAPTER  III 
BALANCE   OF  POWER 


Ill 

BALANCE  OF  POWER 

Many  other  Ostensible  Eeasons  for  this  war  and  the  di- 
plomacy which  led  up  to  it,  besides  those  exhibited  in  the 
White  Paper,  have  been  urged  by  responsible  persons; 
and  among  them  we  find  the  time-worn  plea  that  a  pure 
zeal  for  the  maintenance  of  what  is  called  the  Balance  of 
Power  entered  largely  into  the  matter.  Now,  where  this 
argument  is  put  forth,  it  is,  of  course,  assumed,  by  way  of 
fundamental  axiom  necessary  to  the  argument's  validity, 
to  be  desirable  that  no  one  European  Power  should  grow 
much  stronger  than  another;  also  that  it  is  possible  for 
human  skill  to  prevent  such  an  unhappy  occurrence.  Alas ! 
sirs,  we  drop  plumb  down  at  the  first  step;  and  have  to 
amend  the  axiom  before  we  can  so  much  as  start,  or  even 
get  foothold  to  stand  on.  Ideals  are  so  lovely,  contemplated 
in  vacant  azure;  and  we  all  know  how  clay-encumbered 
they  become  when  translated  into  the  prose  of  earth.  In 
view,  therefore,  of  the  so  evident  undesirability  to  each 
Power  of  such  restriction  on  its  own  growth,  the  axiom 
is  made  to  run  that  it  is  desirable  for  the  nations  to  be  so 
grouped  together  into  two  opposing  camps  that  the  collec- 
tive strength  of  each  group  shall  balance  that  of  the  other ; 
and  possible  for  human  skill  to  achieve  this,  though  the 
perfect  ideal  be  abandoned  as  too  Utopian.  But  thus  at 
last,  say  the  adherents  to  this  Political  Doctrine,  shall 
Peace  be  kept.  Namely,  by  the  obvious  futility  of  a  war 
infallibly  bound  to  result  in  a  mere  draw,  and  so  prove 

59 


60  BALANCE  OF  POWER 

sheer  loss  to  every  party.  At  the  risk  of  condemnation  for 
again  slitting  up  a  Moon-calf  unkillable,  one  might  begin 
by  asking:  "When  did  the  world  ever  see  this,  I  will  not 
say  actually  done,  but  so  much  as  verily  aimed  at?  When 
ever  yet  was  it  the  aim  of  the  Group,  any  more  than  of  the 
nation,  to  simply  balance  the  opposite  group,  and  not  to 
overbalance  to  its  own  side?  You  that  see  blessedness  in 
the  possible  attainment  and  preservation  of  Even  Poise, 
search  through  world-history  and  all  diplomacy's  workings 
and  minings  since  Adam,  we  give  you  a  wide  range,  and 
then  announce  to  us  one  instance  of  a  nation  or  group, 
grown  heavier  in  those  sacred  scales  of  yours,  reducing  its 
strength  to  restore  the  equality  and  bring  the  obliquity 
of  the  Ecliptic  back  to  its  proper  position.  We  are  ready 
to  give  you  hundreds  of  instances  of  self  -sacrifice  and  mar- 
tyrdoms more  heroic  than  this  done  and  suffered  for  very 
strange  faiths.  Come,  gentlemen,  out  with  your  instance. 
Where  is  the  Unique  ?  Maybe  some  of  us  would  like  to  go 
on  pilgrimage  to  its  shrine.  Well,  if  you  cannot  afford  us 
this  satisfaction,  may  we  ask:  Wherein  does  this  holy  zeal 
for  Balance  differ  from  the  zeal  endemic  in  every  pot  of 
vipers,  where  each  struggles  to  get  its  own  head  uppermost : 
Two  knots  of  them  struggling  for  the  super-poise,  you  say, 
instead  of  each  singly.  And  that  the  divine  exorcism  of 
sinful  lust?  It  is  to  be  feared  not;  but  only  some  crafty 
priest's  absolution  conundrum.  Germany's  overweening 
pride,  you  commence  again —  But,  excuse  me,  you  must 
not,  not  on  this  hypothesis  of  Balance.  For  how  can  you 
possibly  bring  any  question  of  morality  into  this  ?  By  this 
hypothesis,  the  strength  of  the  opposing  parties  is  to  be 
kept  equal;  and  I  never  heard  that  such  a  thing  was 
desirable  between  Good  and  Evil.  But  perhaps  you  were 
going  to  conclude,  as  on  the  premises  you  quite  fairly 
might,  that  the  said  overweening  pride,  by  disturbing  the 


BALANCE  OF  POWER  61 

poise,  made  it  in  the  interests  of  justice  incumbent  upon 
you  to  help  the  other  scale  with  a  due  modicum  of  the 
same  article?  In  which  case,  I  beg  pardon  for  the  inter- 
ruption. Nevertheless,  some  among  us  misdoubt  that  a 
Balance  so  kept  level  must  need  pretty  continual  adjust- 
ment, remain  ever  tremulous,  and  little  hope  of  a  stable 
equilibrium  being  reached  for  it  this  side  of  doomsday. 
Are  we,  then,  really  asked  to  believe  that  all  that  diplomacy 
was  to  preserve  Equality,  the  present  battling  to  restore 
itf  Britain,  perceiving  that  the  German  scale  was  becom- 
ing the  heavier,  flung  a  spare  million  tons  or  so  into  the 
Franco-Russian;  and  now,  having  flung  her  whole  weight 
in  undisguisedly,  purposes  to  stop  fighting  as  soon  as  the 
scales  come  about  to  par  again;  forbidding  any  overplus 
at  the  Franco-Russian  end  of  the  beam  with  the  same 
magnanimous  resolution  that  she  forbade  it  at  the  Teu- 
ton 's  ?  No  intention  to  throw  Germany  on  her  beam-ends, 
Lord!  no.  Where  would  the  Balance  be  then!  But  the 
diplomatists  are  never  weary,  would  soon  construct  afresh 
with  all  the  old  checks  and  appliances.  My  friends,  your 
Balance  of  Power,  as  a  thing  ever  actually  aimed  at,  is  a 
Lie  total. 

What  of  it  as  a  Notion?  Now  I  should  be  loath  to  tell 
you  of  notions  more  seraphieaL,  said  Oliver,  with  a  certain 
archness.  Men  have  had  them,  spent  their  blood  like  water 
for  them.  Reverting  to  it  again,  then,  as  a  pure  Ideal,  in 
somewhat  different  sense,  Emersonian  superior  to  consider- 
ations of  friction.  What  is  it?  Very  wn-Emersonian, 
whose  call  was  Forward !  in  the  limitless  ethereal  which 
knows  no  bond  and  expands  forever  in  the  light  oceans  of 
intelligence.  Dear  old  status  quo.  Such  a  homely  and 
practical  sound !  Seems  rather  a  sudden  drop  from  aerial 
speculation  and  notions  seraphical?  Why,  truly,  I  cannot 
warrant  either  the  aerialness  or  seraphicality ;  yet,  however 


62  BALANCE  OF  POWER 

broad-based,  thick-quilted  in  habitude,  and  stolid  in  inertia, 
no  notion  is  more  utterly  a  nothingness  and  dream  of  air. 
In  any  time,  let  the  now  existing  boundaries  and  powers 
remain  without  further  change ;  it  is  always  so  comforting 
to  many  to  imagine  that  this  can  be;  and,  naturally,  the 
more  so  to  those  on  whom  the  fates  are  not  calling  for 
increase  but  for  allowance  to  new  Power,  which  also  has 
its  part  to  play  in  their  arena.  The  thing  cannot  be  done ; 
for  the  powers  and  boundaries  are  under  an  irresistible 
compulsion  to  change  so  long  as  Time  lasts,  and  wisdom 
never  is  a  blind  resistance  to  this  law.  Mere  clutching  at 
the  wheel  of  destiny,  of  old  proverbial  for  height  of  peril- 
ous folly.  Does  not  every  nation  grow  from  small  begin- 
nings to  a  mighty  stature  ?  And  who  shall  ever  say  to  it, 
Hitherto  and  no  further?  Neither  the  flow  nor  the  ebb 
can  be  prevented ;  all  diplomacy 's  workings  thither  directed 
sheer  cobweb,  and  battlings  futile.  As  a  Notion,  this 
maintenance  of  Balance  is  the  ancient  thought,  now  known 
infidel,  that  the  Future  can  be  chained  under  the  Past  and 
the  Present;  endeavoured,  forever  doomed  to  utter  impo- 
tence. 

Carlyle  spoke  of  this  matter  directly,  and,  for  the  noble, 
with  conclusive  finality.  Hear  a  few  of  his  words  on  it: 
'  "Balance  of  Power,  they  tell  me,  is  in  a  dreadful  way: 
'  ' '  Certainly  if  one  can  help  the  Balance  a  little,  why  not  ? 
'  "But  Julich  and  Berg,  one's  own  outlook  of  reversion 
'  "there,  that  is  the  point  to  be  attended  to : — Balance,  I  be- 
'  "lieve,  will  somehow  shift  for  itself!"  On  these  princi- 
'  pies  Friedrich  Wilhelm  signed.  .  .  .  Fleury  and  George 
'stand  looking  with  intense  anxiety  into  a  certain  spectral 
'something,  which  they  call  the  balance  of  Power;  no  end  to 
'their  exorcisms  in  that  matter.  Truly,  if  each  of  the 
'Royal  Majesties  and  Serene  Highnesses  would  attend  to 
'his  own  affairs, — doing  his  utmost  to  better  his  own  land 


BALANCE  OF  POWER  63 

and  people,  in  earthly  and  in  heavenly  respects  a  little, — 
he  would  find  it  infinitely  profitabler  for  himself  and 
others.  And  the  Balance  of  Power  would  settle,  in  that 
case,  as  the  laws  of  gravity  ordered  which  is  its  one 
method  of  settling  after  all  diplomacy !  .  .  .  "  Tush,  child, 
you  do  not  understand.  In  these  tremendous  circum- 
stances, the  celestial  Sign  of  the  Balance  just  about  cant- 
ing, and  the  obliquity  of  the  Ecliptic  like  to  alter,  how 
can  one  think  of  little  marriages?  "Wait  'til  the  Obliq- 
uity of  the  Ecliptic  come  steadily  to  its  old  pitch."  ' — 
Frederick,  Bk.  5,  Chap.  3. 

Ah,  my  brothers,  if  you  would  look  up  to  Celestial  Signs 
you  might  find  them  very  steady;  but,  when  your  battle- 
smoke  has  cleared  away  once  more  and  you  do  see  the 
stars  still  there  in  their  unerring  courses,  what  sort  of  an 
earth  will  you  have  made  out  among  you  for  them  to  look 
down  upon?  Think  not  that  your  eyes  were  on  celestial 
signs  when  you  awakened  this  hell-pit,  for  they  were  not. 
And  had  Britons  hearkened  to  that  Voice  of  the  Age, 
which  is  to  sound  through  Ages  yet  and  be  heard  by 
others  if  it  will  not  by  them,  then  had  the  word  Balance 
of  Power  vanished  from  their  vocabulary,  or  remained 
only  as  a  by-word  of  contempt,  if  it  could  not  reach  the 
silence  which  wraps  all  sin  and  delusion  in  pity. 

It  is  no  argument  in  favour  of  a  falsity  that  it  owes  its 
currency  to  its  being  a  perversion  of  a  truth;  for  that  is 
what  all  falsities  do,  and  the  very  wherefore  of  their  detest- 
ableness.  Two  things,  neither  of  them  by  any  means 
merely  notional,  but  of  an  extremely  real  existence  in  the 
actual  world  of  politics,  the  one  just  and  the  other  vicious, 
work  under  the  name  of  solicitude  for  the  Balance  of 
Power;  or  rather,  I  am  afraid,  it  is  mainly  or  solely  the 
latter  which  so  works,  under  pretence  of  being  the  former : 
I  mean  Precaution  against  Unjust  Encroachment,  and  En- 


64  BALANCE  OF  POWER 

deavour  to  prevent  or  hinder  Sound  Growth.  It  is  through 
professing  to  be  for  the  first  of  these  that  Balance  of  Power 
arguments  are  able  to  pass  so  loosely  by;  but  it  is  the 
second  which  always  informs  them  with  virulent  life,  and 
to  it  do  they  owe  their  grip  upon  jealous  mankind.  Neither 
of  them  has  any  more  concern  with  the  balancing  of 
power  than  with  the  unbalancing,  and  when  that  plea  is 
made,  the  first  is  seldom  or  never  within  it;  for  truth  re- 
jects a  lying  guise;  whilst  the  second  rarely  parades  in 
any  other  dress  than  this.  Unless  by  good  fortune  it  can 
don  a  sacerdotal,  so  gain  title  to  excommunicate  the 
Common  Enemy — I  will  not  say  of  Europe,  but  leave  it 
large.  Why  soar  so  high  a  flight  as  this  either,  when  a 
mere  police  tunic,  more  suitable  to  these  civil  ages,  might 
yield  a  yet  desirable  title  to  exterminate  ?  Or  in  our  days 
of  Specials,1  just  in  workaday  suit  with  all  sins  unannelled, 
volunteer  yourself  Constable  sworn  to  do  the  Almighty's 
bidding.    Which,  no  doubt,  you  know  ? 

Yes,  both  these  things  are  very  real;  and  it  will  not  at 
all  satisfy  that  you  admit  the  first  only,  not  abhorring, 
not  diplomatising  and  battling  as  strenuously  against  the 
second.  Unjust  Encroachments,  or  attempts  at  them,  are 
constantly  being  made  by  ambitious  neighbours,  and  equally 
perennial,  quite  equally  damnable  and  banned  of  God,  are 
the  Endeavours  of  jealous  and  envious  nations  to  prevent  a 
neighbour 's  increase  of  power,  simply  because  that  Increase 
would  be  unwelcome  to  them.  Are  not  these  two  things 
twin  brethren  of  one  soul;  all  exclamations  at  the  former 

1  The  large  numbers  of  special  constables  were  sworn  in  in  England 
on  outbreak  of  war.  The  author  living  among  the  numbers,  and  hav- 
ing done  his  share  of  road  patrolling  in  winter  nights,  examining 
church  steeples  for  wireless  installations  and  other  freaks  of  shyitis 
dictation.  When  a  nation  sinks  into  venomous  suspicion  and  kills 
the  prey  of  its  own  delusions! 


BALANCE  OF  POWER  65 

as  nefarious  by  those  actuated  by  the  latter  a  damned 
hypocrisy  ?  You  may  have  laid  it  down  as  a  fundamental 
law  of  your  policy,  to  be  acted  on  the  moment  occasion 
arise,  that  a  certain  Nation  shall  not  acquire  what  would 
raise  it  to  an  equality  with,  or  preponderance  over  your- 
self; but,  unless  there  are  reasons — and,  mark  you,  I  do 
not  say  unless  you  can  advance  reasons,  but  simply  unless 
there  are  reasons — why  this  should  not  occur,  your  'law' 
is  null.  In  fact,  it  is  not  a  law  laid  down,  and  you  would 
have  been  wiser  not  to  call  it  so,  but  only  a  claim  entered. 
You  have  entered  this  claim;  and  such  claims  can  be 
entered  in  faith,  or  from  an  instinct,  which  after  events 
prove  to  have  been  well  founded ;  but  you  mistake  radically 
in  imagining  that  the  fact  of  entry  justifies  title.  So  far,  it 
is  nothing  but  a  claim,  with  all  evidence  to  support  it  or 
controvert  it  still  to  be  heard.  It  is  to  heaven  you  have 
appealed,  and  /  know  myself  wholly  incompetent  to  give 
the  answer;  do  merely  examine  the  manner  in  which  you 
have  made  the  appeal,  and  your  motives  in  making  it,  so 
far  as  visible. 

Here,  then,  may  be  the  place  to  ask  the  Reader  to  dis- 
tinguish well  between  those  Certainties  and  Dubieties 
spoken  of  in  Proem;  between  things  asserted  to  be  and 
things  left,  whether  temporarily  or  permanently,  in  the 
clouds  of  uncertainty.  I  think  I  may  say  that  such  clear 
division  between  the  known  and  the  unknown  does  exist 
in  my  own  mind  in  all  now  being  written  of.  This  is  not 
intended  for  flattering  unction;  no  reader  need  imagine 
I  am  going  to  turn  things  round,  conclude  to  his  comfort 
the  Briton  is  the  right  god  after  all,  the  German  a  cursed 
miscreant.  Nothing  like  it;  nor  quite  the  reverse,  either! 
Yet  remember  that  no  degree  of  evil  in  one  will  make 
another  virtuous;  that  because  one  is  wrong,  it  does  not 
by  any  means  always  follow  the  other  is  right;  much  less 


66  BALANCE  OF  POWER 

that  there  is  no  deeper- law  of  right  and  wrong  than  any 
we  can  fathom,  by  which  the  Issue  is  really  sure  to  go. 
Gain  the  victory,  either  side,  and  will  it  profit  you  to 
believe  you  got  it  by  what  chiefly  put  it  in  jeopardy, 
nearly  o'erwhelmed?  Do  so,  and  the  next  time  it  will  be 
more  than  nearly.  But  does  man  owe  his  strength  to  his 
foes'  wickedness?  His  strength,  his  valour  and  wisdom 
which  can  alone  be  his  strength,  must  be  in  him  as  a  living 
fountain,  pure  and  to  keep  pure.  If  not  enough  in  him, 
the  wickeder  may  have  the  triumph ;  and  he,  cleansed,  re- 
emerge  to  the  lasting  victory,  if  not  on  earth,  then  in 
eternity.  Yea,  give  over  the  notion,  too,  that  however 
much  in  him,  the  rightly  noble  can  always  outfence  every 
terrestrial  opposite.  What  does  our  highest  symbol,  the 
Cross,  symbolise,  if  not  the  renunciation  of  that  proud 
dream?    Eenunciation  more  victorious  than  any  victory. 

Cognate  with  which  more  general  reflections  are  these 
particular  ones  that,  whereas  the  Unjust  Encroachments 
and  all  the  diplomacies  which  envelop  them  are  neces- 
sarily unwise,  the  Precautions  taken  against  them  may  be 
either  wise  or  foolish;  and  that,  whilst  the  jealous-born 
Endeavours  to  Limit  are  inevitably  vicious  in  their  origin 
and  their  every  manifestation,  the  Entity  they  seek  to  re- 
strict may  be  anything  from  demigod  to  gallows-carrion,  his 
thrust  and  parry  exhibit  the  whole  range  of  human  fac- 
ulty, heroic  to  subter-brutish.  By  the  hypothesis  in  each 
case,  the  godly  is  excluded  from  the  one  side;  but  it  is 
not  therefore  to  be  found  on  the  other,  or  the  devilish 
absent.  It  is  partly  this  which  so  normally  renders  it  diffi- 
cult to  know  which  side  has  the  right ;  especially  since,  what 
in  matters  international  is  eminently  true,  it  is  never  a 
case  of  Right  versus  Wrong,  but  only  of  a  preponderance 
of  right  on  one  side,  of  wrong  on  the  other.  An  argument, 
by  the  by,  which  those  opposed  to  a  very  preponderant 


BALANCE  OF  POWER  67 

right  are  exceedingly  fond  of — when  beaten;  they  never 
give  it  a  hearing  till.  Yet  it  is  not  difficult  to  know  these 
four:  The  Unjust  Encroacher,  and  the  Human  Warder 
against  him;  the  Envious  Seeker  to  him,  and  the  Living 
Irresistibility  impelled  by  Nature's  force  to  reach  the  full 
stature  he  is  capable  of.  For  the  methods,  whole  procedure 
of  the  genuine  two  are  as  totally  diverse  from  those  of 
the  spurious  two  as  their  spirits  are.  The  genuine  are,  of 
course,  very  similar  to  each  other;  likewise  the  spurious. 
Unjust  Encroacher  and  Jealous  Suppresser  are  as  said, 
one  identity;  he  who  is  himself  rich  in  noble  expansive 
vitality  will  prove  the  surest  guardian  against  wrongful 
aggression,  as  the  stoutest  uprooter  of  fences  set  up  with- 
out warrant.  The  eighteenth  century  Austrian,  who  joined 
in  Partition  Treaties  to  keep  down  a  Prussia  threatening 
to  grow  out  of  small  into  Great,  was  the  same  entity  that 
itself  sought  to  swallow  Bavaria;  and  the  Friedrich,  who 
expounded  in  true  virile  development,  was  the  same  who  by 
Fiirstenbond  checked  his  aggressive  neighbour's  expansion. 
Remember  those  examples,  study  them  and  learn  how  the 
Unjust  Encroachers  and  the  Jealous  Forbidders  wrought 
all  by  sly  methods ;  and,  claiming  Justice  the  while,  charged 
on  the  neighbour  all  those  iniquities  themselves  were  guilty 
of.  How  the  Expander  in  nature's  development  claimed 
only  what  was  his  right ;  and,  when  forbidding  aggression 
in  another,  stepped  frankly  in  on  hest  of  an  express  in- 
fringement of  right  then  in  course  of  perpetration. 

Then  look  at  the  present  case  and  ask  yourself  which 
category  it  comes  under.  We  none  of  us  believe  for  an 
instant  that  Britain  plotted  for  a  wanton  encroachment  on 
Germany;  so  that  that  goes  out  of  the  reckoning  at  once, 
though  France  and  Russia  may  not  be  so  easily  absolvable, 
and  Britain's  alliance  with  them  leaves  her  doings  not  a 


68  BALANCE  OF  POWER 

little  ambiguous  to  many.  I  shall  call  it  an  alliance,  unless, 
perchance,  conspiracy  be  a  truer  synonym  for  your  En- 
tente! Granting  this,  the  Briton  did  not  conspire  with 
the  Frank  and  Russ  out  of  lust  for  German  territory.  No ; 
it  was  out  of  sheer  dread  and  timorous  apprehension.  Our 
much  valiant  leaders  have  assured  all  Peoples  of  this,  and 
tabled  satisfying  proof.  Britain's  awful  cover  was  lent 
that  pair  of  lovely  innocents  to  warn  the  "Wicked  One, 
subdue  him  by  majesty  of  mien;  no  bond  to  enter  strife, 
nor  resolution  to,  unless  her  fearful  countenance  proved 
unavailing,  when,  of  course,  the  Incorrigible 's  guilt  must 
assoilize  her.  Likewise  does  all  question  of  Germany 
having  acted  out  of  jealousy  of  neighbour's  increasing 
power  go  out  of  the  reckoning;  that  is  not  the  thing 
charged,  nor  have  you  anywhere  claimed  that  she  was 
inspired  by  the  same  high  motives  as  yourselves.  The 
charge  is  that  Germany  was  meditating  wanton  aggression ; 
upon  whom  is  not  exactly  clear,  but  pretty  well  all  creation 
within  feasible  clutch,  as  we  are  asked  to  believe.  And 
the  Plea  is  that  Britain  acted  in  needful  Precaution  against 
this  meditated  aggression,  not  from  jealous  determination 
to  forbid  increase.  Verily  ?  Will  you  stand  to  that  ?  The 
Just  will  listen  to  no  plea  of  needful  precaution  put 
forward  by  one  in  whom  the  jealous  forbiddal  was.  But 
you  do  rather  corner  a  man,  and  make  it  difficult  for  him 
to  define  your  doings  without  palpable  contradiction  of 
them.  State  one  thing  fairly  and  in  accord  with  your  plea, 
then  proceed  to  its  companion  inseparable  in  integrity  and 
the  ground  yawns  under  one;  yet,  perhaps,  after  all,  these 
things  do  but  render  the  true  definition  the  clearer.  One 
has  to  look  things  in  the  face,  too,  and  take  by  the  beard 
if  need  be.  You  see,  at  any  rate,  that  I  give  no  allowance 
to  your  axiom  that  Germany  was  never  to  grow  any  bigger, 
if  much  at  a  loss  to  know  where  she  was  trying  it  in  late 


BALANCE  OF  POWER  69 

conjunctures.  I  have  yet  no  surety  the  Eternal  has  not 
ordained  she  shall  grow  considerably  bigger.  But  how  is 
it  possible  to  state  your  case  for  you,  if,  the  moment  after 
one  thing  is  agreed  for  premise,  you  stop  me  with  a  tenet 
wholly  opposite  to  its  direct  infallible  corollary?  Impos- 
sible to  state  it  for  you  on  those  terms,  yet  still  possible 
to  state.  Motive  pure  precaution  against  unjust  encroach- 
ment contemplated  in  general,  no  instance  given;  therefore 
motive  not  envious,  jealous,  acts  not  informed  by  least 
desire  to  prevent  or  hinder  healthy  expansion  and  true 
growth.  Nay,  by  God,  sir,  she  shall  not  acquire  another 
acre,  not  even  if  victorious  in  war  with  one  who  refused  to 
stand  neutral.  Is  she  not  the  one  Power  we  need  to  fear, 
sole  Eival  to  our  sway,  and  single  nation  that  we  dare  not 
face  without  a  double  backing?  Cut  her  down;  no  other 
aspires  to  our  sublime  level.  Thou  a  Briton  to  whom  the 
"World  belongs,  and  not  zealous  for  so  dangerous  a  co- 
exister's  reduction!  Sirs,  I  live  in  the  world  and  could 
welcome  a  Peer.  Yet  in  the  lists  for  Rivalry  your  axiom 
is  valid;  and,  having  claimed  brute  nature,  you  must  be 
left  to  its  trial  of  strength.  Not  overchivalrous  lists  in 
this  case;  much  advantage  prepared  and  taken  for  the 
onslaught.  But  I  well  knew  how  largely  the  sin  lay  simply 
in  co-existence. 

And  if  instances  of  the  intended  agressions  be  given? 
But  look  first  at  those  ascriptions  of  boundless  ambition 
to  the  German.  And  wisely,  for  they  came  first  and  begot 
the  instances.  That  nothing  in  past  German  history  or 
character  lends  credit  to  them,  is  easily  conceivable  as 
father  of  the  ambition  ascribed,  can  go  for  nothing  with 
you ;  since  there  is  so  much  in  your  own  lying  accounts  of 
that  history  and  character  which,  if  true,  would  support 
them;  which,  as  false,  so  obviously  declares  the  parentage 
not  of  the  ambition  but  of  the  ascription  of  it.     Lying 


70  BALANCE  OF  POWER 

accounts  still  persisted  in  the  teeth  of  the  fullest  and  most 
indubitable  revelations  of  the  truth  long  standing  printed 
among  you ;  written  by  him  to  whom  the  fairest  American 
said  you  owed  your  further  lease  of  power.  And  Emerson 
touched  on  a  most  profound  fact  there:  It  is  to  Carlyle, 
immeasurably  more  than  to  any  other  man,  that  Britain 
owes  her  continued  lease  of  power,  though  now  exulting 
in  denial  of  his  word,  as  those  sons  of  Belial  that  dwell 
in  her,  dragging  her  in  leash,  or  swelling  the  free  cry, 
have  throughout  done.  Not  much  wonder  that  they  should 
either,  considering  what  a  scourging  he  gave  them.  As  of 
old,  too,  they  shout  We  are  the  Nation,  we;  and  the  whole 
Empire  solidly  endorses,  none  able  to  gainsay.  Man  of  in- 
tegrity, slow  to  believe  his  neighbour  guilty  of  outrage  yet 
reluctantly  compelled,  would  have  first  made  very  sure 
of  the  fact ;  and  then,  if  wishful  to  persuade  us,  would  have 
brought  his  evidence,  saying:  By  these  fruits  know  the 
tree  which  bore  them.  Not  so  here;  quite  reverse  wise: 
First  attribute  the  aggressive  temper,  and  then  interpret 
every  motion  made.  Accept  as  an  article  of  religious  faith 
that  this  German  nation  meditated  evil;  and  then  see  if 
each  step  it  takes  does  not  confirm  to  the  hilt.  I  never 
knew  it  to  fail  to,  on  those  conditions.  But  it  was  highly 
necessary  to  instill  this  belief  first,  or  to  have  it  sponta- 
neously ready  far  and  wide,  needing  only  to  be  harped  on ; 
since  without  it  the  instances  given,  which  with  it  proved 
so  conclusive  of  devilish  purpose,  would  have  sounded  very 
curious.  The  manner  of  presenting  the  instances  was  also 
in  perfect  harmony.  For  the  Arouser  of  the  Nation's 
Rage  did  not  commence  an  argument  by  saying  Germany 
seeks  to  conquer  Normandy,  etc.  No,  he  appealed:  If  the 
Netherlands,  Belgium,  Normandy  became  German;  or  if 
France  without  loss  of  territory  became  more  or  less  subject 
to  Germany — think  what  the  consequences  to  us  would  be ! 


BALANCE  OF  POWER  71 

Of  course  the  audience  had  no  moment's  doubt  the  enor- 
mity was  purposed,  and  rose  in  fury,  swearing:  It  shall 
never  be,  while  Britons  live.  I  do  not  wonder  that  Germans 
think  these  things  were  adroit,  astute,  etc.,  though  I  know 
they  came  not  by  cunning  calculation,  but  through  the 
speaker's  own  fore-persuasion,  far  removed  from  veracity. 
Had  the  presentation  of  the  instances  been  in  the  form 
of  measured  statement  of  facts,  with  argument  You 
should  act  thus  and  thus  in  consequence,  some  might  have 
asked  amazedly,  What  evidence  do  these  'facts'  of  yours 
afford?  Germany  guaranteed  the  Netherlands;  ditto  Bel- 
gium, if  she  did  not  side  against  her;  Normandy,  too,  was 
secure  by  the  offered  agreement  not  to  take  French  terri- 
tory whilst  France  and  all  things  French  had  remained 
unharmed,  if  she  would  but  have  stood  neutral,  which  if 
she  refused  to  do  it  was  surely  at  her  own  risk.  But  the 
Appeal  swept  all  before  it  by  recounting  these  things  itself, 
as  in  a  frankness  that  had  nothing  to  conceal ;  we  mention 
them,  indeed,  and  you  all  know  what  credit  to  attach :  the 
enormities  were  purposed;  frightful  aggression  is  now  in 
course  of  perpetration, — through  our  and  France's  rejec- 
tion of  every  term,  the  more  magnanimous  the  hotter  brand 
we  infamous,  also  freely  told.  And  yet  the  fever  incongru- 
ity carried  with  dissentient:  not  one  solitary  Mr.  Viner1 
to  get  on  his  legs. 

If  now  we  look  at  the  charge  against  Germany,  namely 
that  she  was  meditating  Unjust  Encroachments,  shall  we 
say  that  it  wholly  collapses  ?  We  must  say  so,  of  the  charge. 
Shall  we,  then,  say  that  it  has  been  proved  Germany  had 
no  aggressive  intentions?  Negatives  are  difficult,  often 
quite  impossible  to  prove.    It  may  be  that  to  a  generous 

1  Mr.  Viner  was  the  sole  man  in  British  Parliament  who  protested 
that  the  justice  of  Friedrich's  claim  to  Silesia  should  be  examined 
before  it  was  concluded  devilish  and  warred  against  by  Britain. 


72  BALANCE  OF.  POWER 

mind  a  vicious  accusation  soils  the  accuser  only,  leaves  the 
accused  in  fairer  esteem.  True,  moreover,  that  a  malicious 
indictment,  sinking  into  unseemly  heap  when  subjected  to 
cross-examination,  impotent  to  establish  the  guilt  it  asserted, 
does  yield  an  increased  likelihood  no  guilt  was  there;  be- 
cause it  is  so  much  more  usually  the  virtuous  that  are  the 
objects  of  such  attacks.  But  this  is  the  utmost  that  can  be 
affirmed  as  the  result  of  an  examination  conducted  as  this 
of  ours  is,  namely  by  dissection  of  the  Prosecutor's  evidence 
alone,  without  ever  calling  on  the  Defendant  for  his.  And 
we  do  not  call  on  you  for  generosity.  "We  shall  say  simply 
that,  whether  responsible  German  statesmen, — we  do  not 
need  to  go  to  Germany  for  Jingoes  and  Rabids, — had  cloud- 
dreams  of  a  new  Western  Empire,  Britain  its  pretty 
islet,  or  not,  the  demand,  or  suggestion  of  French  Neu- 
trality is  by  itself  sufficient  to  absolve  them  of  having  had 
any  immediate  purpose  of  trying  to  realize  those  dreams. 
Alas!  France  and  Britain  would  not  let  Germany  fight 
Russia  alone,  less  victor  she  should  grow  mightier.  By  re- 
sponsible British  Statesmen's  own  showing,  it  was  this 
Dread  of  Ultimate  Aggression,  and  no  imminency  of  ag- 
gression that  brought  the  war  west. 

Then  look  at  the  Plea  again,  namely  that  Britain's  meas- 
ures were  Precautionary  against  foul  offence,  not  jealous  of 
neighbour's  growing  power.  It  collapses  totally,  in  every 
sense.  For  grant  that  the  aggressions  were  intended,  that 
Germany,  in  those  large  schemes  you  are  so  sure  of  in  her 
haughty  noddle,  did  purpose  to  advance  like  an  Attila  Host 
west,  once  secure  of  inroad  from  the  east,  and  you  will 
surely  not  call  your  'precautions'  noble  or  wise?  Good 
heaven !  I  know  not  what  meaning  you  attach  to  the  words 
1  noble '  and  '  wise ' ;  what  ^nobility  and  height  of  folly  you 
would  not  so  denominate.  But  I  do  know  that  no  man  to 
whom  those  words  were  rightly  applicable  could  have  acted 


BALANCE  OF  POWER  73 

in  any  single  step  of  this  business  as  you  have  done;  his 
methods,  whole  mode  of  procedure,  like  his  spirit,  had  been 
different  from  yours  in  toto  coelo.  We  have  seen  what  the 
British  methods  actually  were;  integrity's  ward  of  injus- 
tice nowhere  to  be  found  in  them.  And  if  any  of  those  so 
feared  acquisitions  by  Germany  should  now  take  place, 
rightfully  or  wrongfully  on  her  part,  who  and  what,  think 
you,  will  have  precipitated,  furthered  such  result?  But  if 
British  whole  procedure  has  been  completely  incompatible 
with  the  knightly  guard  against  wrong,  it  has  been  very 
consonant  with  the  jealous  endeavour  to  stop  growth;  nor 
have  I  the  smallest  doubt  that  the  central  principle  of  our 
policy  here,  admitted  or  not  admitted  to  themselves  by  the 
contrivers  of  it,  has  been  prevention,  if  possible  and  by  all 
available  means,  of  any  further  increase  of  Germany's 
power.  Neither  did  this  principle  of  policy  arise  solely 
through  threatened  equality  or  preponderance,  so  unwel- 
come to  Races  long  dominant,  but  from  far  deeper  causes 
also ;  causes  not  to  be  entered  on  in  this  chapter. 


CHAPTER  IV 
SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES 


IV 

SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES 

This  chapter  is,  of  course  to  be  something  of  a  sister  to  the 
preceding ;  and  we  propose  going  through  it  thus :  Namely, 
to  open  with  a  brief  glance  at  Systems  of  Alliances.  But, 
quickly,  leaving  this,  to  look  at  National  Alliances,  as  ge- 
nerically,  Engagements  entered  into  for  all  manner  of  pur- 
poses; for  performance  of  which  all  manner  of  bonds  are 
given.  Then,  thirdly,  to  consider  the  fundamental  distinc- 
tions by  which  such  engagements  can  be  everywhere  more 
properly  divided  into  Alliances  and  Conspiracies.  Fourthly 
to  remind  you  of  those  profounder  depths,  cognizance  of 
the  existence  of  which  leads  you  to  know  that  human  com- 
pacts are  much  more  determined  by  elective  Affinities,  ele- 
mental Repugnances,  than  by  motives  of  Expediency,  tem- 
porary interest.  Concluding  the  chapter  with  an  examina- 
tion of  each  of  the  'Alliances'  in  present  case. 

(1)  Systems  of  Alliances  are  part  and  parcel  of  the 
Balance  of  Power  doctrine ;  and  are  as  disreputable,  lying, 
and  frightfully  pernicious.  They  are  a  making  of  friends, 
instead  of  a  choosing;  and  friendships  cannot  be  made  to 
any  doctor's  prescription.  I  stand  too  solitary  in  creation, 
see  my  brother  over  there  hobnobbing  with  his  'longside 
mistress  and  her  one-time  leg,  now  grown  independent, 
stretched  out  away  from  him;  fear  he  means  to  cozen  over 
to  himself  what  was  her  neck,  whereon  two  heads  have  since 
gemmated.1  Most  ominous!  I  must  myself  in  haste  con- 
1  Italy,  the  Ehine  countries,  the  Netherlands  (now  Holland  and  Bel- 
gium), all  at  one  time  Austrian. 

77 


78  SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES 

fabulate  per  contra;  temper  the  Bear  with  honey  and  train 
oil,  make  him  sweet  with  Oriental  spice,  stroke  down  the 
Leg,  and  take  exception  to  no  wanton  kick  in  Tripoli,  the 
toe  scarce  reached  to  Egypt;  cocker  up  the  heads,  or  one 
of  them,  to  spit  back  fire  if  coaxed  or  threatened,  ( 'tother's 
too  phlegmatic,  and  I've  had  experience  in  hoisting  him; 
believe  he'll  prove  intractable  to  Teuton's  wile)  :  Above  all 
must  I  make  love  to  the  bright-eyed  Celt :  a  pretty  enough 
bedfellow  and  nothing  jealous,  though  her  whim  of  having 
me  couple  with  her  huge  hairy  pet  goes  something  against 
stomach;  but  if,  out  for  a  jaunt  together,  the  fashion  of 
that  darling  creature's  garments  be  commented  on,  I  too 
can  say  they  are  Persian.  Misery  of  various  sorts  does 
make  a  man  acquainted  with  queer  fish  for  bedfellows. 
Alack!  Bull,  could  you  see  yourself,  as  for  clouded  sense 
you  cannot,  you  might  marvel  how  you  came  by  such  a 
pair  of  simultaneous  unmentionables.  Surly  Hyperborean 
and  brisk  light- wench,  the  pink  of  tripping  politeness,  what 
made  them  unite  in  soliciting,  lead  you  on  betwixt  to  tumble 
for  their  sport  ?  Shocking,  O  Bull !  and  sport  with  profes- 
sionals known  something  mercenary.  But  did  you  ever  try 
begetting  Futurity 's  Hope  on  the  like  of  these  before  ?  And 
would  not  bachelorship  have  been  preferable  to  yielding  up 
your  house  to  their  mad  racket,  even  if  no  legitimate  wife 
to  help  keep  it  in  order  were  obtainable?  'Twas  not  my 
own  house,  growls  he;  had  to  go  abroad,  mind  theirs  for 
them :  All  that  bad  brother 's  fault ;  and,  damn  him ;  he  shall 
pay  for  the  crockery  my  dear's  broken.  Besides,  I  know 
he  meant  to  smash  me  next.  Well,  if  the  brother  were 
admitted,  however  cursed  for  the  nonce,  there  might  still  be 
hope  that  rage  fraternal  could  yet  end  in  amity. 

I  stand  too  solitary  in  creation ;  and  once  I  thought  the 
isolation  splendid.  Why,  surely,  if  you  did  take  pride  in 
isolation,  it  was  but  an  opposite  phasis  of  the  self-same 


SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES  79 

spirit  which  later  made  you  slink  in  with  Trinculo  and  com- 
pany ;  such  benighted  companionship  the  just  god 's  punish- 
ment for  the  pride.  But  to  check  wild  play  and  try  it  a 
third  time :  I  stand  too  solitary  in  creation. — Truly !  Bull,  I 
think  in  a  way  you  do.  Not  many  an  honoured  Paterfa- 
milias and  Citizen  of  earnest  state,  by  nature  so  heavy- 
laden,  pious,  have  I  seen  careering  on  the  public  highways 
with  so  oddly  matched  a  pair,  one  on  either  arm ;  kiddy  Japs 
and  Portugals  incited  to  join  in,  and  all  the  decent  family 
in  uproar  at  your  heels.  Or  a  fourth  time,  and  get  it ;  for 
you  see  how  much  I  have  it  at  heart  to  check  wild  play  un- 
becoming to  staid  and  solid  Papa.  I  do  not  mean  to  argue 
that  a  nation  should  seek  to  stand  alone,  take  pride  in  isola- 
tion, any  more  than  a  man  should.  How  then  come  by  ally  ? 
Even  as  the  private  man  should.  By  doing  each  its  own 
task  manfully,  in  self-sufficiency  competent  to  stand  single, 
yet  open  to  all  noble  brotherhood  and  loyal  copartnery; 
thereby  growing  into  sterling  amity  with  any  other  that  so 
does  and  stands.  We  have  to  choose  our  friends  indeed,  and 
he  is  wise  who  can  do  that  well.  Yet  every  worthy  would 
shrink  from  exercising  diligence  to  obtain  a  friend.  If  met, 
he  is  the  grace  of  heaven;  which  does  shower  its  riches 
round,  and  many  pass  over  for  one  that  clasps  and  cherishes 
the  godsend.  Such  things  may  sound  strange  to  diploma- 
tists ;  yet  I  can  believe  in  diplomatists  also  who  would  rec- 
ognise them  for  essence,  without  which  the  thickest,  most 
unsightly  husk  were  empty  of  kernel,  much  more  gilded 
shell  manufactured  that  never  was  borne  by  the  living. 
Now  System  of  Alliances  stands  in  direct  opposition  to  this ; 
starts  with  the  idea  that  friends  must  be  obtained,  as  dan- 
gerous to  be  without;  that,  in  short,  you  must  go  out  into 
the  market  and  buy  them  for  what  they  can  be  got  for. 
Doubtless,  in  general,  the  cheaper  the  better ;  yet  supreme 
skill  and  triumph  in    outbidding.      A    haggling    temper 


80  SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES 

scarcely  commendable  where  Kingdoms  and  Principalities 
are  up  at  auction, — reserve  shrouded  in  mystery,  and  risk 
of  withdrawal  if  it  be  not  reached.  In  which  view,  there 
are  perhaps  few  concerns  wherein  British  large-mindedness 
and  open-handedness  shine  out  with  so  pure  an  effulgence  as 
in  this  of  Bidding  for  Allies.  Little  George x  went  running 
round  to  everybody,  eagerly  enquiring;  Will  you  fight? 
Here 's  for  you,  if  so, — hand  to  breeches '  pocket  accompany- 
ing. But  of  all  bargains  ever  struck  by  Britain  (or  cap- 
tures made,  if  you  prefer  that  description),  the  late  one 
with  France  will  probably  be  allowed  the  brightest  jewel  in 
her  diadem;  so  vast  a  largess  thrown,  and  no  return  de- 
manded, except  simply  to  persist  in  her  own  will.  Yea,  of 
yore,  Britain  knew  no  price  too  high  where  duty  called. 
And,  then,  the  godly  often  have  to  hire  who  will  not  fight 
for  love. — or  make  assurance  doubly  sure.  Moreover,  if  it 
was  all  done  to  secure  Ally  for  own  safety,  were  not  that  in 
perfect  accord  with  the  principle  of  System?  Hold!  or  we 
shall  be  concluding  the  fifthly  before  we've  commenced  the 
firstly.  There  is  no  firstly;  Systems  of  Alliances  are  wind 
and  blue  vapour.  Besides,  I  told  you  we  should  only 
glance  and  ever  quickly  leave  it. 

Yea,  but  in  another  sense,  there  is.  For  it  is  too  palpable 
now  to  all  men  that  Systems  of  Alliances  have  involved  the 
world  in  war  through  a  dispute  between  two.  Not  mere 
wind  and  blue  vapour  this.  "Well  was  it  written,  the  wildest 
dreams  and  most  spectral  Shadow  Hunts  of  men  can  catch 
hold  of  facts  and  send  them  madly  whirling ;  or,  if  not  that, 
catch  fire  themselves.  Here  have  you  been  in  vain  wisdom 
sky-building  to  your  fancy ;  hoping  by  evident  mightiness  of 
sequel  to  prevent  the  small  beginning  might  spread  none 
could  know  whither.  You  would  be  gods  to  know  whither, 
and  settle  that  beforehand.    Now  that  the  sequel  is  upon 

1  George  II,  vide  Friedrioh. 


SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES  81 

you  with  a  vengeance,  do  you  know  whither?  One  has 
heard  of  many  contrivances  for  building  houses  fireproof, 
but  this  was  the  strangest:  To  build  a  costly  palace,  or 
world's  Town  Hall  and  Council  House,  with  saloons  for 
Concert  richly  dight,  entirely  of  explosives,  and  then  inhab- 
it it,  O,  Nations  all!  secure  at  last  that  none  dare  strike  a 
light.  But  why  should  J  continue  ?  Have  not  the  heavens 
pronounced  verdict?  Light  struck;  and  more  fearful  con- 
demnation of  mortals'  doing  seldom  thundered  over  earth 
from  Almighty's  throne. 

(2)  National  Alliances  as,  generically,  Engagements  en- 
tered into  for  all  manner  of  purposes;  for  performance  of 
which  all  manner  of  bonds  are  given.  I  meant  this  defini- 
tion to  cover  all  possible  agreements  between  nations  which 
can  be  formulated  and  signed  as  treaties :  Which  can  be,  I 
say,  whether  they  are  or  not.  Ententes,  I  know,  reckon 
themselves  very  slippery  fish.  The  Agreement  may  be  good 
or  evil,  sound  or  rotten ;  no  restriction  of  that  kind,  nor  in 
degree  of  import;  neither  are  ink  and  parchment,  bewit- 
nessed  signatures,  or  solemnities  of  seals  affixed,  necessary 
to  it ;  side  glances  tell  what  should  be  understood  without, 
and  the  continent  impassive  the  better  read  each  other,  none 
wist  they  had  a  thing  in  common,  or  ever  met  before.  To  be 
the  agreement  must,  of  course,  exist;  the  limit  here  that  it 
be  for  definable  objects,  could  name  specific  items.  Often  it 
is  reckoned  more  desirable  to  leave  the  object  undefined. 
The  Entente  gave  out  no  aim  save  sweet  reciprocity ;  milk 
of  human  kindness  flowing  free  o  'er  gall  of  bitterness.  How 
lovely!  For,  of  course,  it  was  to  heal  and  not  to  hide? 
Gall,  submerged  from  view,  gained  no  increase  by  being 
shielded  from  the  physicing  sunlight  all  rejoiced  to  see  play 
on  the  milk?  Items  may  require  to  be  specific,  that  of 
engaging  to  protect  the  northern  coasts  of  France  was  suf- 
ficiently so;  and  highly  desirable  to  keep  from  the  light! 


82  SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES 

Lest  the  nation,  catching  sight  of  it,  should  have  cried  Stop ! 
We  see  the  object:  This  pleasant  flirting  is  growing  too 
dangerous  practical.  We  keep  it  from  the  light !  How  can 
you  say  so?  answer  they.  The  item,  possibly,  as  decency 
ordained;  but  you  cannot  have  the  face  to  say  you  never 
saw  the  object?  No,  gentlemen,  I  saw  it  lang  syne,  and 
have  not  the  face  which  you  and  the  nation  unfortunately 
have.  The  nature  of  the  Entente  was  clearly  the  same  as 
that  of  the  Kingship  and  Church,  transparent  humbug ;  and 
the  Decency  Principle  was  precisely  what  made  it  accept- 
able to  a  People  long  used  to  such,  every  mortal  that  asked 
himself  full  witting.  Bond  for  performance,  too,  why 
should  this  be  given  in  a  mere  Entente  f  Sacrament  of  mar- 
riage inviolable  is  called  in  question  nowadays,  and  Union 
Libre  is  more  accordant  with  freedom's  spirit.  Offers  no 
impediment  to  consummation  before,  either;  and,  in  these 
connections,  it  is  usual  for  performance  to  precede  bond  for 
it.  No  child  may  be  conceived,  we  all  call  God  to  witness 
how  devoutly  we  hoped  it  never  would  be.  Not  till  the 
unlucky  birth  is  imminent  need  we  call  in  the  priest  to 
absolve,  pronounce  his  benediction  on  Alliance ;  then,  with 
faces  shining  in  new  won  grace  of  heaven,  publicly  declare 
how  far  we  had  gone,  get  the  priest  to  christen  the  offspring, 
lawfully  born  in  wedlock,  nature's  latest  Messiah  to  lead 
your  armies  to  victory.  You  calculated  well,  for  I  perceive 
the  Priest  has  everywhere  done  it. 

To  return:  Limit  that  the  engagement  be  for  definite 
objects.  Now  all  the  more  valid  and  fruitful  Alliances  be- 
tween nations,  as  between  men,  are  of  tacit  character ;  they 
exist  only,  rooted  in  the  silent  deeps,  and  are  properly 
incapable  of  being  made  the  subject  of  Treaty,  though  no 
treaty  which  does  not  rest  more  or  less  upon  them  can  be 
good  for  much.  It  is  a  fatal  thing  to  go  against  these 
underlying  Alliances  in  making  treaty,  dangerous  not  to 


SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES  83 

go  with  them;  but  they  themselves  require  no  treaty,  and 
cannot  be  brought  under  terms.  Cultivate  them,  and  you 
are  little  likely  to  be  without  express  Ally  in  the  day  of 
peril;  neglect  them,  and  if  you  have  any  save  the  devil's 
legions  to  friend  it  will  be  a  strange  chance.  They  are 
sacred  things,  whereof  Ententes  and  Union  Libres  do  offer 
ghastly  parody.  But  so  far  as  it  is  for  us  to  speak  of  these 
it  must  be  under  the  fourth  heading ;  only  no  word  on  the 
articulate,  specific,  written  in  forgetfulness  of  them,  could 
be  true. 

"We  do  not  need  to  go  into  those  multitudinous  minor  mat- 
ters which  are  continually  fit  subject  for  International 
Agreements  more  to  be  classed  as  business  contracts  than 
as  political  treaties.  Except  to  say  that,  if  degree  of  im- 
port does  and  should  affect  spirit,  it  should  never  affect 
rectitude.  And,  in  fact,  it  never  does,  since  he  who  belies 
in  the  trivial  will  play  false  in  the  weighty  too.  But  how 
does  and  should  degree  of  import  affect  spirit  ?  You  do  not 
study  covenants  for  hosiery  quite  in  the  same  temper  that 
you  do  those  of  Grace  and  for  Works  ?  Possibly  not ;  yet, 
methinks,  these  casual  covenants  are  among  your  soul's 
works  also,  and  if  Grace  be  absent  in  the  hose  there  is  little 
hope  of  its  presence  in  the  heart.  Verily,  it  is  not  so  much 
the  degree  of  import  you  attach  to  the  matter  in  hand  but 
the  degree  of  import  you  have  found  in  life  that  determines 
your  conduct  in  every  matter.  Business  contracts!  Yes, 
and  with  all  the  trickeries  and  sordidness  which  defile  busi- 
ness, sow  mischief,  and  bring  disaster,  or  the  ugliest  of  all 
'successes',  riches  and  depravity.  Base  compliances  are 
everywhere  base,  but  perhaps  the  more  hideous  when  the 
wrong  is  done  or  permitted  for  the  sake  of  a  good, — as  is 
imagined.  Whereof  we  have  seen  so  much.  A  fundamental 
of  The  Concert.  Neither  is  there  the  least  doubt  that  for 
years  past  British  Policy  has  in  many  a  Russo-Persian, 


84  SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES 

Italian,  Franco-German,  matter  been  dictated  by  urgency 
of  wish  to  make  friends  with  all  adverse  to  the  German,  give 
offence  to  no  friend  of  his  who  might  stand  by  him  in  his 
hour  of  need.  Not  but  that  I  know  a  noble  prudence  possi- 
ble in  that  direction  also;  here  ignoble,  and  British  appre- 
hension made  use  of  to  gain  that  which  could  not  otherwise 
have  been  got. 

Coming  up  to  the  greater:  "When  contemplating  these 
recent  makings  of  Allies  and  what  we  ever  knew  such  doings 
must  issue  in,  it  has  often  been  impressed  upon  me  that  no 
express  alliance  for  joint  acts  offensive  or  defensive  ought 
to  be  entered  into  unless  for  special  cause  and  limited  time. 
Again,  you  may  well  say,  they  never  really  are.  Definite 
Alliance  may  no  more  state  its  objective  than  indefinite 
Entente;  but  the  specific  objective  is  ever  there,  alone  gives 
life  and  soul  to  the  alliance.  Germany  and  Austria,  France 
and  Russia,  may  have  severally  each  sworn  to  support  the 
partner,  if  attacked,  without  saying  by  whom  attacked. 
But  they  well  know  by  whom  in  each  case ;  and,  if  they  had 
not,  had  never  signed  compact.  Leaving  these  /ore-swear- 
ings, however,  shall  we  say  that  no  express  transient  Alli- 
ance for  specific  purpose  not  springing  from  the  tacit,  rest- 
ing on  its  deeper  bond,  should  ever  be  made  ?  I  think  the 
deepest  intuition  answers :  It  is  better  not ;  yet  leaves  a  large 
allowance  to  frail  mortality,  and  shrinks  always  from  con- 
demning for  mere  failure  to  transcend.  Friedrich  at  the 
Gambler's  Table,  their  dice  all  loaded,  sometimes  had  his 
own  loaded:  Pity,  sympathy,  no  spoken  acquittal.  Fried- 
rich,  with  definite  and  just  aim,  not  primarily  asking  either 
France  or  Britain  to  help  him,  found  those  two  to  him 
extraneous  parties  bent  to  join  in,  will  he,  nil  he,  on  one 
side  or  the  other,  namely  on  opposite  sides ;  and  balanced, 
as  able,  which  it  would  be  expedient  for  him  to  strike  bar- 
gain with;  leant  to  Britain  and,  had  she  met  him  fairly 


SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES  85 

with  own  aim  just  and  definite,  had  closed  with  her,  but 
finding  her  too  lax  and  shuffly  clapt  up  with  France  in- 
stead :  Shall  we  say  that  this  is  always  wrong  ?  "We  cannot 
justly  do  so.  "With  neither,  he  had  been  left  with  no  ally, 
"Well?  But  it  seemed  too  perilous.  Yet  the  sequel  rather 
proved  he  had  been  better  with  none.  It  is  easy  after- 
wards to  see  his  fairer  course  had  been  to,  so  far  as  possi- 
ble, avoid  offence  to  either,  close  with  neither;  and,  doubt- 
less, a  demigod  had  so  foreseen.  Yet  even  with  the  demi- 
god there  could  be  no  hard  and  fast  rule  against  accepting 
such  chance  ally  as  offered  best  by  the  moment's  conjunc 
tion  of  interests.  Ah,  yes,  there  are  expediencies  of  the 
noble  as  well  as  of  the  mean;  and  he  who  is  deepest  cog- 
nizant of  the  perennial,  eternal,  is  he  who  has  the  fines 
finesse  in  earth's  deeds,  the  oblivious  too  clumsy  with  all  his 
cunning.  Vast  everywhere,  likewise,  and  in  all  times  is  the 
difference  between  infirmities,  slippings,  compliances  and 
weaknesses  of  man  with  just  aim  learning  the  world  and 
threading  his  way,  and  diabolisms  of  the  case-hardened 
old  stager  who  has  abandoned  integrity,  or  of  the  cute 
young  who  has  never  had  it  to  abandon.  It  may  be  that 
you  cannot  fasten  on  Sir  Edward  Grey  any  act  like  that  of 
Klein- Schnelledorf  and  Niesse,  bombarded  with  life-destroy- 
ing ball  yet  for  show.  Nevertheless,  he  so  guilty  there  stood 
in  the  main  on  realities ;  battled  for  truth,  and  increased  in 
true  intelligence  of  men  and  things ;  grew,  we  may  say  it, 
nearer  to  God,  though  making  sport  of  His  name.  "Whilst 
your  Sir  Edward  has  never  seen  truth's  face,  nor  believed 
in  her  existence;  her  invisible  armoury  not  worth  to  him 
one  stack  of  serviceable  firearms,  and  ridicule  of  right  where 
the  mightier  force  gave  power  to  trample :  to  him  Expedi- 
ency is  sole  bottom,  the  living  rock  unkenned.  And  zeal 
for  "Woman  Suffrage,  eloquence  for  Principle  most  conso- 
nant. 


86  SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES 

(3)  The  fundamental  distinction  by  which  International 
Engagements  can  be  everywhere  divided  into  Alliances  and 
Conspiracies.  I  do  not  know  if  it  has  ever  struck  the  reader 
that  there  is  such  a  distinction ;  and  if  there  were  a  Ruskin 
living  to  nail  one  to  etymologies,  the  distinction  might  not 
hold  as  to  the  words.  For  if  to  conspire  signify  properly 
to  breathe  together,  link  itself  with  inspiration  and  spirit, 
Conspiracy  might  more  fitly  stand  for  the  highest  of  all 
possible  unions, — as  with  some  among  us  it  does;  might 
supersede  Alliances,  or  bound  together,  as  too  servile  weak 
a  team, — quite  unsuitable,  we  know,  for  heaven  unfran- 
chised Entente.  And  if  the  formal  treaty  of  Alliance  did 
offer  a  preamble  In  the  name  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  has  long 
ceased  to  reveal  much  a  Living  Presence  through  its  buck- 
ram. Then,  why  should  not  Conspiracy  announce  Pente- 
cost come ;  each  breast  inflamed  and  tongue  loosened ;  no 
Tisiphone  there  to  make  the  rocks  reecho  Vengeance  ?  But, 
as  Oliver  was  wont  to  say,  our  business  is  to  speak  things 
not  words;  and  since,  through  whatever  perversity  of  fate 
or  chance,  Conspiracy  has  come  to  denote  a  combination  of 
men  actuated  by  ill-will,  only  'breathing  together'  in  com- 
mon hate,  and  alliance  usually  presupposes  good  will,  at 
least  between  the  parties  to  it,  we  shall  take  the  words  in 
that  sense ;  namely  as  significant  of  good  or  ill  will  in  the 
parties.  Yes,  that  is  how  we  meant  to  draw  the  distinction ; 
sufficiently  vital;  cleaving  to  the  bottom  and  ramifying 
whole  substance.  Alliances  are  positive ;  Conspiracies  nega- 
tive. The  first  are  primarily  for  affirmation ;  they  come  by 
common  endeavour  to  assert  truth,  and  never  originate  in 
opposition !  The  second  are  essentially  for  denial ;  they 
seek  the  destruction  of  some  true  man  whom  their  Principles 
damn  as  arch-foe  of  humanity.  Alliances  are  of  eternity, 
Conspiracies  of  time.  The  first  are  self-subsistent,  and 
would  be  the  same  were  there  no  antagonist  in  the  field ;  the 


SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES  87 

second  are  factions  of  an  hour,  springing  into  existence 
from  enmity  to  a  third !  Alliances  are  of  Love ;  most  de- 
bonnaire,  and  free  in  all  graceful  manlike  welcome  to  every 
compeer.  Conspiracies  are  of  hate ;  they  are  engendered  in 
spite,  full  of  venom,  dark  and  crooked  in  their  every  work- 
ing. Alas !  not  always,  not  always.  I  have  said  long  since 
that  the  ancient  notion  of  the  Devil,  as  being  necessarily  a 
Malicious  Entity,  was  due  to  his  oppressed  condition  for- 
merly. In  days  of  yore,  that  is,  when  he  was  so  unfairly 
compelled  to  appear  chronically  in  the  Opposition  seats,  be- 
fore men  had  hit  on  the  plan  of  cleansing  him  of  spleen  by 
electing  him  Ministerial.  Yet  the  cloven  hoof  will  out ;  and 
our  Ministers'  speeches  these  hours  cannot  be  justly  said  to 
lack  much  in  venom. 

But  beyond  drawing  your  attention  to  that  same  funda- 
mental distinction,  for  future  (and  prior)  reference,  it  is 
not  my  purpose  to  speak  immediately  any  further  of  these 
Antipodals.  Nor,  more  than  formerly,  to  use  the  word 
Alliance  solely  in  the  strict  sense  here  given  to  it,  though 
Conspiracy  be  throughout  used  in  no  other  sense  than  here. 

(4)  That  human  compacts  are  more  determined  by  elec- 
tive affinities,  elemental  Repugnances,  than  by  Expediency, 
temporary  Interests.  Sir  E.  Grey  is  not  alone  in  regarding 
expediency  as  sole  bottom,  though  several  that  sit  on  the 
same  Minister's  Bench  with  him  would  scorn  to  name  it 
where  their  Principles  were  involved. — And  what  an  ex- 
celsior loose  could  be  given  to  these,  once  he  had  proclaimed 
expediency,  sworn  it  was  your  skins  that  were  imperilled, 
and  made  it  clear  how  care  for  them  had  ever  been  his 
guiding  principle.  Ah,  then,  let  honour's  godlike  zest 
break  through  the  cloud ;  and  Principle  be  owned  sole  mo- 
tive. But,  leaving  these  phosphorescent  awhile,  turn  to 
the  sound,  and  you  more  often  find  Expediency  named  true 
motive.     There  are  times  when  the  vast  majority  of  the 


88  SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES 

most  honest  capable  can  recognise  no  other,  or,  at  least,  are 
shy  of  asserting  any  other  articulately  to  themselves. 
Friedrich  pooh-poohed  the  high  magnanimous  heroic  role  so 
temptingly  laid  out  before  him;  said  solidly  that  Sover- 
eigns had  to  be  guided  by  their  interest.  It  was  a  worthy 
answer ;  and  he  who  gave  it  knew  what  was  his  interest  as 
no  other  there  did  what  was  his ;  neither  did  any  antagonist 
exhibit  a  tithe  of  the  heroism  and  magnanimity  which  he 
did.  Frequently,  these  things  are  the  helpless  rejoinders 
of  the  sterling  to  idealisms  they  feel  to  be  slim,  yet  cannot 
see  fully  how  and  whereby,  nor  declare  for  themselves  a 
motive  that  does  transcend  'interest';  veracity's  instinctive 
recoil  from  things  fatuous,  and  healthy  injection  of  all 
visionary  good.  They,  the  honest,  never  reply  so  to  a  con- 
crete manhood  calling  them  to  deeds  which  are  high  in 
verity ;  and  their  answers  to  the  pseudo  are  pitiable,  lovable, 
reverable,  never  detestable,  like  the  sordid 's  fasten  on  dirt, 
his  rejection  of  the  real  as  visionary.  It  is  so  unhappily 
true  that  most  of  those  who  profess  a  soul  beyond  expedi- 
ency are  visionaries;  the  moment  they  touch  on  practical 
fact  they  declare  to  men  versed  in  it  that  they  simply  do 
not  know  what's  what;  and  I  find  a  better  promise  of 
heavenly  kingdoms  in  the  doings  of  the  most  stolid  mun- 
dane who  does  know  what 's  what  than  in  any  of  the  pretty 
songs  or  solemn  anthems  those  others  sing  and  chant. 
Carlyle  above  every  man  taught  this,  therefore  so  many 
times  a  rock  of  offence  even  to  genuine  idealists,  like  Emer- 
son: That  the  true  Highest  of  men  is  chiefly  cognizant  of 
the  doable,  knows  what's  what  better  than  any  other;  can, 
and  does  by  very  bias  of  his  nature,  live  in  the  world  and 
for  the  world. 

In  contra-distinction  to  the  terrene,  who  sees  no  ground 
for  Alliances  save  interest,  stands  the  religious,  who  believes 
they  should  arise  through  communion  in  one  Faith.    And 


SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES  89 

he  is  right ;  or,  when  authentic,  is  striving  toward  the  right ; 
would  be  right  forever  and  in  all  cases  were  his  faith  suf- 
ficiently cosmic.  Parallel  with  him,  parallel  and  never  in 
contact,  always  disputing  the  first  place  with  him,  and  in 
these  days  quite  supplanting  him  in  it,  is  the  devotee  of 
Principle,  who  argues,  or  should  argue,  in  his  own  peculiar 
imitation  of  the  same  key,  that  Alliances  ought  only  to  be 
made  with  nations  which  profess  the  like.  At  their  best, 
Men  of  Principle  are  poor  creatures,  something  pseudo  at 
their  best,  and  the  Living  of  that  tribe  occupy  themselves 
wholly  with  the  mechanical,  in  'mere  political  arrangement,' 
as  Carlyle  early  described  it;  not  in  the  Man  chosen,  but 
only  in  the  Method  by  which  he  is  chosen  do  they  see  sal- 
vation. Barking  rabid  at  a  noble  Kaiser,  they  step  forth 
seriatim  to  eulogise  a  Chamberlain,  who,  having  come  in  by 
the  narrow  wicket  of  their  law's  prescribing,  must  have 
ascended  to  the  right  hand  of  God,  whatever  quarrels 
mutual  infirmities  were  source  of  whilst  he  dwelt  among 
them;  and,  for  the  other  'Soul  of  a  Devil'  and  Nature's 
Abortion.  Little  rack  of  memory  requisite  to  recall  the 
days  when  Joey's  tange  was  smudge  with  similar  missile; 
and  so  when  the  Kaiser  too  has  shuffled  off  his  earthy  coil 
—  ?  But  he  came  not  in  by  your  straight  gate ;  and  thus  I 
hope  we  may  be  spared  the  ordeal  of  funeral  oration  within 
those  walls.  Well,  the  limits  of  these  gentry  are  apparent 
enough;  but  are  they  genuine  within  their  limits?  The 
godly  too  have  damned  with  frantic  emphasis  for  failure  to 
come  in  by  very  narrow  wickets  of  their  laws'  prescribing, 
set  terms  for  the  grace  of  heaven,  and  sworn  that  no  soft 
rain  of  mercy  could  fall  without  the  bounds.  Yes,  but, 
when  genuine,  they  have  never  made  compact  with  the  infi- 
del to  the  better  punish  heresy;  wherever  that  has  been 
done  we  know  the  branded  heresy  was  native  inspiration. 
No  true  man,  persuaded  that  his  Faith  or  Principle  was 


90  SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES 

necessary  to  salvation,  made  Alliance  with  whom  it  chiefly- 
marked  sinful  in  order  to  preserve  his  house  from  inroad 
or  destroy  an  opposite ;  but  always,  from  the  bottom  of  his 
heart  has  said  Better  no  help  than  that. 

Far  beneath  and  beyond  all  articulate  Alliances,  how- 
ever, whether  formed  for  Expediency,  in  Faith,  or  on  Prin- 
ciple, lies  what  we  call  Affinity,  Repugnance.  These  things 
are  not  contraries,  but  reciprocals;  in  the  noble,  the  one 
implies  the  other;  you  may  rightly  say  it  does  in  the  ig- 
noble also,  yet  there  the  former  is  frequently  a  mere  sequel 
to  the  latter,  temporarily  dictated  by  it.  Elective  Affinity ! 
Elemental  Repugnance!  Both  may  be  either  virtuous  or 
vicious;  but,  when  virtuous,  both  are  alike  instant,  spon- 
taneous; twin  births,  each  with  independent  life;  and  no 
Alliance  with  one  party  ever  made  as  a  consequence  of 
repugnance  to  another,  as,  when  vicious,  is  constantly  the 
case.  The  noble  loves  the  Noble,  will  ally  with  no  others; 
rejects  the  base  absolutely,  and  will  never  conspire  with 
them  whatever  the  press.  Wisdom  and  Truth  unto  the  vile 
are  vile,  filth  savours  but  themselves ;  they  affin  by  nature 
with  the  mean,  and  in  hate  of  their  opposite  will  conspire 
with  all  and  sundry.  To  act  in  clear  intelligent  accord  with 
the  noble  Affinities,  Repugnances,  which  are  rooted  in  our 
being,  beyond  every  profession  of  faith  or  of  purpose,  is 
the  Unattainable  for  mortal;  our  best  endeavours  but  ap- 
proximating. The  bygone  religions  insisted  on  profession, 
could  not  do  without  it;  the  new  has  reached  so  far  as  to 
know  that  it  must  utterly  discard  this;  that  by  what  man 
actually  is,  not  by  what  he  believes,  or  will  subscribe  to,  is 
he  commendable  or  condemnable.  The  common  Creedo  a 
result,  not  a  cause,  which  may  or  may  not  announce  a  meet- 
ing at  true  answer  as  to  item :  never  capable  of  being  more ; 
and,  he  who  has  no  coincidence  in  regard  to  the  item  quite 
likely  to  be  in  deeper  harmony  with  the  infinite.    In  this 


SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES  91 

profounder  sense,  no  engagement  is  really  entered  into  from 
community  in  creed  or  concurrence  in  hate,  but,  intelli- 
gently or  unintelligently,  consciously  or  unconsciously, 
every  human  compact  is  determined  by  the  inevitable  affini- 
ties and  repugnances  of  the  parties  to  it.  International 
Alliances,  Conspiracies  are  not  dictated  by  interest,  but 
spring  from  similarity  of  character,  soul's  aim  and  very 
being  of  the  Peoples.  "What  the  Peoples  everywhere  in- 
stinctively draw  to  or  recoil  from,  their  common  drift,  or 
manfulness  in  headway,  this  rules  their  friendships  and 
their  enmities,  makes  these  blessed  or  cursed. 

(5)  And  now,  having  cleared  or  defined  the  ground  a 
little,  we  may  add  what  further  word  is  here  desirable  on 
each  of  the  Alliances  in  present  case. 

I  am  afraid  none  of  them  were  exactly  blessed ;  and,  cer- 
tainly, the  Austro- German  is  the  only  one  that  affords 
ground  for  consideration  as  possibly  so.  It  differs  radically 
from  all  the  others ;  and  some  things  can  be  humanly  plead 
for  it ;  for  the  others  nothing  humanly.  These  two  nations 
are  immediate  neighbours,  largely  of  one  race,  and  have  a 
long  Past  with  very  much  in  common;  no  vital  cleavage 
till  the  Reformation.  Austria  for  centuries  simply  the 
chief  state  of  Germany,  as  Prussia  after ;  no  absolute  bar  to 
her  redemption  and  reentry.  And  Union  versus  Slav,  I 
think  we  may  say  '  accordant  with  justice  and  the  true  ever 
living  interests  of  man.' 

Why  Austria  should  wish  for  Germany's  friendship  we 
used  no  holy  ghost  to  tell  us ;  the  most  earthly  can  answer 
for  that.  For  Germany:  Every  well-meaning  man  prefers 
cordial  relations  with  his  neighbours,  if  the  price  for  it  be 
not  too  high ;  and  churlish  ever  to  reject,  unless  conscience 
do  forbid.  Largely  here,  also,  it  was  a  case  of  the  only  one 
that  offered ;  and,  as  we  said  above,  you  may  not  too  strictly 
blame  for  sealing  hand-clasp  in  such  a  case.    That  the  defi- 


92  SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES 

nite  Alliance  was  in  the  main  a  cautionary  act  with  Russia 
in  eye  is  out  of  doubt;  and  not  a  rag  of  evidence  worth 
notice  it  was  aggressive  on  Germany 's  part,  if  Austria  per- 
chance did  find  it  convenient  shelter  for  some  opportune 
nibbles,  chafing  to  the  Great-in-Territory,  though  how  she 
came  by  rights  of  pasturage  over  those  distant  meadows 
De  'il  wist.  A  favourite  tickle  of  his :  Where  one  has  right 
to  meddle  thou  hast.  But  in  all  earthly-prudent  senses,  I 
do  not  think  one  word  can  be  urged  against  this  Austro- 
German  Alliance ;  rather  do  I  believe  that  solid  honesty  in 
worldly  foresight  would  thoroughly  endorse  it.  And  yet  I 
must  confess  that  when  this  war  broke  out,  smote  on  my 
heart,  as  on  that  of  every  Briton  who  loves  a  man  and 
knows  him  when  he  sees  him,  I  cried:  Alone  against  the 
world !  and  that  Alliance  his  chief  est  weakness.  "Why  so  ? 
Because  Austria,  as  an  Anti-Reformation  Entity,  has  gone 
a  bad  road  ever  since,  remains  in  the  Jesuit's  grip  to  this 
hour,  in  every  essential  of  the  Jesuit?  Yes,  mainly  there- 
fore. The  instant  feeling  that  the  bond  was  one  with  Dark- 
ness rather  than  with  Light;  gorge  rising  at  the  sight  of 
Hohenzollern  cheek  by  jowl  with  Hapsburg :  You  know  the 
street  portraits  had  it  so.  And  two  Britons  mourned  at 
the  pairing  ?  False  Britons  would  shake  hands  with  Haps- 
burg and  all  hell  to  hound  the  other ;  cared  naught  for  the 
pairing,  except  to  wish  one  easier  prey  for  their  fangs.  I 
thought  it  ill  that  Germany,  foremost  in  the  van  of  intel- 
lect and  every  human  good,  should  be  conjoined  with  grasp- 
ing habitude ;  Winner  of  the  Open-Secret  chained  to  dark- 
some Closure ;  and  man  of  frankest  wit  dragged  into  war  by 
vulpine.  Yet,  as  I  said,  you  do  not,  may  not,  blame  too 
sorely  for  mere  failure  to  transcend,  though  I  think  the 
sequel  has  once  more  proved  the  Solitary  had  been  better, 
and  friendless  on  earth  found  less  on  his  hands  than  now, 
hooked  to  the  Dual.    Let  us  hope  it  was  of  infirmity,  no 


SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES  93 

incipience  of  evil  affinity.  That  they  who  in  the  highest  led 
the  way,  on  whose  bravest  the  new  day-spring  first  shone, 
have  not  indeed  grown  less  in  pity  for  the  lost  in  woods, 
nor  weaker  in  stable  rejection  of  his  beclouded  spirit.  That 
man  born  of  true  kings,  battling  with  anarchic  elements,  has 
never  thought  the  false  king  could  lend  help,  between  whom 
and  him  is  a  yet  deeper  gulf  fixed.  Nay,  I  know  the  bare 
suggestion  wrongs  him,  if  we  go  to  the  innate  affinities; 
yet  also  know  that  in  him,  as  in  all,  the  clear  intelligence 
but  struggles  for  conquest. 

Of  the  Alliances  'twixt  Italy  and  these  two,  separately 
each  to  each,  or  collectively  the  three  together,  we  cannot 
stop  to  speak:  much  looser  ties,  and,  in  ordinary  dialect, 
altogether  of  Expediency.  On  the  Franco-Russian,  like- 
wise, no  more  than  a  word:  This  had  no  other  root  than 
common  enmity  to  a  third,  and  was  emphatically  a  Con- 
spiracy. For  it,  even  Principle  cannot  be  plead,  since  the 
two  had  none  in  common.  Belgium  may  well  be  pitied ;  yet 
in  stern  truth,  has  reached  her  present  plight  through 
unworthy  bias  and  the  vanity  of  a  fool  blown  up  by  inter- 
ested parties  that  used  her  as  their  tool ;  cast  not  guiltlessly, 
nor  quite  in  innocence,  between  the  points  of  mighty  oppo- 
sites.  Japs,  Portugals,  and  minor  dogs  that  scour  in  the 
wake  of  havoc:  Greed!  greed!  and  the  hope  to  snatch  up 
pickings  in  the  scramble:  Master  of  the  Hunt  hallooing 
them  on,  rejoicing  in  their  bay  or  currish  yelp.  Neither 
need  we  any  ghost  to  tell  us  why  France  wheedled  for  Brit- 
ish cover,  Russia  chimed  in :  All  for  vantage,  vantage. 

Then  as  to  Britain's  share:  We  have  by  no  means  done 
with  that;  therefore  say  nothing  resembling  a  final  word. 
Britain  most  of  any  has  claimed  impartial  soul,  absence  of 
bias,  act  for  justice  solely.  Not  surprising  that  she  should 
so  claim.  Since  nothing  else  could  lend  a  colour  to  an  inter- 
ference so  wholly  uncalled  for,  unprovoked,  made  in  despite 


94  SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES 

of  wished  for  amity,  and  every  manful  offer  scornfully 
flung  back  in  the  teeth  with  mockery  and  outrage.  More 
shameless  than  a  whore ;  for  she  openly  exposes  her  naked- 
ness and  cries  come  bed  with  me  in  sacred  Trinity.  Yet  I 
do  not  remember  having  heard  it  urged  her  Alliance  with 
Russia  was  primarily  sacred.  None  pretend  that  this  origi- 
nated in  any  sympathy  with  or  love  for  Russia,  in  good  will 
to  created  being ;  so  undeniably  due  to  hate  of  another  that 
the  less  said  of  it  the  better  appears  to  be  the  rule  in  high 
quarters.  But  then,  of  course,  the  bond  iniquitous,  long 
obsequiously  truckled  for,  becomes  sacred  by  fortunate  coin- 
cidence in  fell  humour  sworn  just?  For  the  Alliance  with 
France  prudent  safeguard  of  own  interest  has  been  plead ; 
but  the  'prudence'  was  in  fact  the  imprudence  of  men 
obsessed  with  idea,  so,  naturally  brought  on  what  it  sought 
to  ward  off.  Had  there  been  any  noble  care  of  interest,  it 
would  have  led  to  very  different  alliance.  Common  Prin- 
ciple is  also  claimed :  How  utterly  spurious  the  inclusion  of 
Russia  is  at  once  sufficient  to  settle.  Prudence,  Principle, 
and  Reason  were  abandoned  by  Britain  when  she  headed 
this  Anglo-Franco-Russian  Conspiracy.  Jealous  apprehen- 
sion was  a  main  motive  with  her  for  heading  it;  but,  as 
aforesaid,  you  have  to  ask,  "Whence  came  the  uneasy  dread 
of  and  chronic  hostility  to  Germany  ?  How  and  "Why  ?  It 
was  no  new  thing.  For  generations  past,  a  most  bitter,  and 
indeed  entirely  venomous,  Anti-Germanism  has  existed  in 
England ;  the  vicious  elements  in  her,  which  sway  her  state 
councils,  which  the  nation  at  large  delights  to  see  so  sway- 
ing, have,  in  spite  of  a  very  strong  opposite  feeling  on  the 
part  of  the  noble  elements  in  her,  exhibited  an  ever-increas- 
ing enmity  toward  the  German.  And  Britain  sided  as  she 
did  as  a  result  of  that  Enmity;  for  decades  her  Foreign 
Policy  has  been  visibly  informed  by  it.  Her  conduct  has 
been  and  is  pronouncedly  inspired  by  Elemental  Repug- 


SYSTEMS  OF  ALLIANCES  95 

nance  defying  reason.  But  should  we  attempt  treating  of 
that  it  would  be  a  passing  at  once  into  consideration  of  Real 
Causes;  and  we  have  another  chapter  to  write  before  com- 
ing to  them. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY 


THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY 

Probably  the  most  universally  noticeable  thing  about  this 
Combination  against  Germany  is  its  Magnitude.  We  early 
mentioned  Proclamation  of  Magnitude,  passing  over  it  as 
a  vulgar  noise,  with  warning  not  to  let  it  disturb  you. 
Neither  should  it  disturb  you,  or  lead  you  to  forget  that 
Mighty  Combination  among  the  Powers  of  this  World  is  no 
new  thing.  Size  makes  nothing  great,  and  alters  not  charac- 
ter by  one  iota.  It  may  very  likely  be  that  this  little  earth 
of  ours  has  never  previously  seen  as  huge  and  heterogene- 
ous a  Combine  versus  One;  for  you  are  all  agreed  it  is 
essentially,  as  in  fact  it  is,  versus  One.  Nevertheless,  there 
have  been  many  who  have  loomed  as  large  in  the  eyes  of 
their  own  generation ;  been,  most  probably,  as  large  in  pro- 
portion to  the  then  numbers  and  means;  been,  most  cer- 
tainly, as  vociferous  united  in  common  anathema;  nor  less 
triumphant  in  victory,  if  they  got  it,  than  this  will  be  if  it 
gets  it.  Can  you,  however,  tell  me  of  one  such  case  of  Enor- 
mous Odds,  leagued  for  destruction  of  One,  wherein  the 
ultimate  verdict  of  fact,  the  permanent  judgment  of  men, 
their  generous  sympathy  and  noblest  conviction,  has  pro- 
nounced in  favour  of — the  Odds? 

Meantime,  you  who  are  of  the  Combine  glory  greatly,  as 
your  tribes  have  ever  done,  in  your  Numbers,  Vast  Re- 
sources. Some  few  days  ago  the  Daily  Paper  which  I  take 
printed  a  Map  of  the  World,  showing  parts  at  peace  in 

99 


100    THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY 

white,  a  sprinkling  just  sufficient  to  heighten  contrast,  some 
insignificant-looking  patches  shaded,  and  the  remainder  one 
huge  blot  of  inky  darkness,  the  Blest  Kingdoms  of  the 
Allies,  with  underneath  this  proud  device:  'There  should 
be  little  doubt  how  such  a  war  will  end.'  One  of  my  for- 
bears used  as  motto  Turris  fortis  mihi  Deus;  fronted  there- 
with, perhaps  not  Principalities  and  Powers,  yet  something 
greater,  namely  Time  and  Eternity.  These  were  ancient 
notions.  And  is  Great  is  Our  Might  so  modern,  then  ?  Nay, 
for  our  dialects  likewise  change,  yet  know  we  a  constant  in 
man ;  and  methinks  your  loud  trump,  though  you  may  have 
steam  bellows  and  megaphones  to  help  it,  sounds  a  very 
old  note.  Germany  cannot  stand  against  our  overwhelming 
forces,  she  cannot  last  in  face  of  inexhaustible  supply  free 
to  her  foes.  For  our  numbers,  who  can  count  them  ?  Our 
resources  who  can  measure?  We  can  crush  her,  we  can 
starve  her ;  our  might  laughs  at  the  thought  of  her,  and  our 
Combination  is  too  much  for  any  earthly  opposite :  Victory 
is  secure,  and  each  shall  have  his  portion.  But  did  you 
ever  hear  it  said:  'Take  counsel  together — '?  Yea,  as  sure 
as  God  lives,  it  shall  forever  come  to  naught  for  the  con- 
spirers.  Yet  I  say  not  it  is  impossible  you  should  succeed 
in  crushing.  Always  a  blest  result,  I  suppose,  which  you 
would  thank  God  for  achieving;  and  Christ  wholesomely 
suppressed  by  gallows?  You  are  shocked  at  the  analogy? 
And  the  German  also  starts,  as  at  a  profanity?  But  I 
know  that  the  analogy  holds  in  kind,  though  not  in  degree. 
No  nation  ever  exhibits  the  pure  manhood  that  many  a 
single  man  does,  but  its  acts  have  always  frightful  soil: 
Neither  would  that  Man  allow  the  name  of  good  to  be 
applied  to  him ;  but  too  deeply  knew  it  not  applicable.  And 
I  tell  you  straightly  that  the  same  law  holds  for  Nations  as 
for  men;  that  mighty  Combinations  to  crush  do  normally 
owe  their  whole  origin  to  just  the  same  causes  which  prompt 


THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY    101 

men  to  stone  the  prophets,  are  informed  by  similar  spirit. 
You  are  aware  that  this  is  not  the  first  mighty  European 
Combination  to  crush  Germany ;  that  United  Europe  made 
a  very  furious  attempt  of  that  sort  some  century  and  a  half 
ago,  persisted  in  it  Seven  Years  long,  and  failed.  England 
chanced  at  that  time  to  be  temporarily  under  the  guidance 
of  one  of  nature's  nobles,  and,  happening  to  have  just  war 
of  her  own  on  hand  at  the  moment,  allied  with  the  German, 
— not  much  to  the  joy  of  the  ignoble  in  her.  These  Ignoble, 
long  definitely  in  command,  have  now,  to  the  huge  joy  of  the 
rabble  which  follow  them,  and  without  any  British  cause 
for  war  at  all,  plunged  the  nation  in  on  the  opposite  side ; 
determined  to  help  do  the  job  over  again,  and  properly  this 
time.  Of  that  other  Seven  Years '  effort,  it  was  written  that 
had  the  Allies,  alias  Conspirators,  been  united,  there  could 
be  no  doubt  they  might  have  succeeded  in  crushing  the 
One.  You  have  taken  much  counsel  together  to  remedy  the 
fault  which  then  wrecked  the  attempt,  resolved  the  infamy 
then  endeavoured  shall  be  done  this  time.  And  that  in  full 
sight  of  clearest  revelation,  by  the  highest  God's  Missioned 
of  yourselves,  what  an  infamy  it  was,  still  is.  For  this  of 
To-day  is  completely  the  same  thing  again  in  further  devel- 
opment. 

But,  leaving  that  awhile,  and  keeping  to  reflections 
raised  by  Magnitude :  There  is  one  thing  which  the  mighti- 
ness of  this  Combination  has  already  brought  forcibly  home 
to  some,  and  assuredly  will  bring  home  to  all.  Namely,  How 
it  has  raised  Germany  to  the  first  place  in  World 's  esteem  as 
a  Great  Power,  in  the  vulgar  acceptance  of  the  word  great, 
— and  possibly  in  other  acceptations.  Before  this  war  broke 
out,  I  think  most  well-informed,  impartial  men,  the  world 
round,  would,  if  asked  Which  is  the  Greatest?  have  an- 
swered The  British  Empire.  Not  so  now!  For  Britain 
has  made  it  palpable  to  all  she  dare  not  face  Germany  alone. 


102    THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY 

Her  lavish  bidding  for  Allies,  her  obsequious  truckling  for 
them.  The  repeated  nervous  utterances  of  her  statesmen  the 
days  of  'splendid  isolation'  were  gone  by,  madness  now  to 
think  of  standing  single.  The  coward  manner  of  her  entry 
into  strife,  so  visibly  in  league  and  subtle  copartnery,  veiled 
under  quibbles  of  Entente,  yet  holding  back,  and  only 
openly  joining  in  after  two  mighty  were  firm  fastened  on 
the  foe.  (The  German  called  it  'a  striking  of  a  man  behind 
his  back,'  when  already  engaged  with  odds.  It  was.  A 
thoroughly  dastard  act.  And,  moreover,  I  begin  to  be 
aweary  of  Entente,  nice  sharp-quillets  of  your  law;  shall 
speak  in  what  was  once  called  plain  English.)  The  beseech- 
ing or  inciting  of  every  friend  she  could  find,  little  or  big, 
the  world  over,  to  help  her  in  pinch.  The  present  procla- 
mation of  strait,  greatest  trial  of  our  strength  we  have 
ever  been  put  to ;  now  with  two  great  neighbours  to  help  at 
hand,  innumerable  and  powerful  Colonies  zealously  assist- 
ing, Indian  Empire  equally;  these  Colonies,  Dependencies, 
with  Japs  and  Portugals,  relieving  distant  strain;  huger 
armies,  mightier  navies,  more  enormous  loans  than  were 
ever  dreamed  of  raising  at  home ; — yet  the  cry  Help !  Help ! 
Every  Briton,  every  man  that  loves  his  skin,  Help !  Help ! 
or  we  all  sink  unequal  to  this  frightful  contest  with — One. 
Surely  he  must  be  the  Arch-fiend  in  person !  Add  to  this 
the  conduct  of  the  Allies'  armies,  all  herding  together  to 
ring  the  One  at  bay.  The  sort  of  exultation  their  Peoples 
indulge  in.  Ha,  ha,  the  Impotent !  For  why?  He  has  not 
proved  a  very  Titan  of  the  Gods  to  hurl  us  all  heels  upper- 
most.— This  thing,  I  say,  which  the  mightiness  of  your  Com- 
bination has  revealed  is  as  yet  not  revealed  to  but  hidden 
from  many,  though  to  one  at  least  among  you  it  was  quickly 
seen  most  ominous,  indeed  fateful !  It  is  a  thing  of  truly 
'overwhelming'  significance,  and  the  meaning  of  it  is  cer- 
tain to  slowly  dawn  upon  all.     As  the  dust  clouds  settle, 


THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY    103 

that  Great  Fact  will  loom  out  more  and  more,  grow  con- 
tinually in  weight  of  meaning.  In  a  little  while,  or  a  longer, 
every  civilised  nation  on  the  globe,  and  savage  tribe  yet 
loyal  to  you  as  First,  will  perceive  it ;  and  draw  inferences 
from  it.  Persist  in  this  war  to  the  bitter  end  and  be  de- 
feated, one  knows  not  what  fate  will  befall  you.  Time  for 
recovery  may  not  yet  be  utterly  past.  But  persist  to  the 
end,  and  Victor,  Where  are  you  ?  Do  you  imagine  that  the 
Victor  can  alter  this?  It  cannot:  This  thing  is  done. 
Victor,  you  will  not  have  conquered  by  your  own  strength ; 
no  fairer  praise  can  be  to  you  than  what  befits  the  Chief 
Dog  of  a  Pack;  the  fallen  stag  in  majesty.  Time  was  when 
you  could  take  two  or  more  at  once;  could  cry,  Come  one, 
come  all.  Now  your  chivalry  is  in  the  mire,  and  you  are 
bondman  with  and  to  your  '  Allies ' ;  one  of  a  tribe,  a  mob,  a 
most  false  coiner 's  gang ;  confessed  no  more  a  self-sufficient, 
and  with  soul  bound  in  sin.  Victor  or  vanquished,  your 
place  is  gone  without  return ;  nothing  save  an  act  in  noble- 
ness equal  to  this  in  meanness  capable  of  regaining  it.  So 
much  for  the  Magnitude  you  glory  in. 

Of  course,  I  know  what  a  mightily  different  colour  you 
put  on  all  this ;  and  a  colour  put  on  it  is,  never  a  true  com- 
plexion. False  coiners  you  are,  of  more  mischievous  things 
than  stamped  metal.  For  you  try  to  persuade  yourselves  it 
is  a  holy  league  of  Righteous  Many  versus  Evil  One, — 
raised  so  to  eminence,  you  may  admit,  but  then  such  shock- 
ingly bad  eminence.  That  of  Milton 's  Satan  scarcely  to  be 
named  with  it ;  since  he  stood  at  the  head  of  Principalities 
and  Powers,  not  singly  opposed,  was  reckoned  to  have  car- 
ried nigh  half  of  heaven  along  with  him.  Couldn't  now, 
you  swear?  Well,  I  have  not  lived  in  heaven,  cannot  say. 
But  I  did  not  know  the  current  sublunary  races  had  under- 
gone such  conversion  lately  they  could  so  turn  the  tables  on 
all  past  generations.    Perhaps  those  of  a  wider  travel  could 


104    THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY 

find  a  precedent,  but  no  mortal  record  known  to  me  contains 
account  of  one,  though  they  all  teem  with  accounts  of  Com- 
binations of  reverse  character;  and  the  features  of  those 
reverse  resemble  the  features  of  yours  with  such  exceeding 
closeness  it  is  difficult  to  believe  they  belong  to  antipolars. 
Holy  league  of  righteous  Many  to  crush  One  wrong  ?  Verily ! 
Have  you  ever  considered  what  that  would  imply ;  what  a 
tremendous  change  in  the  constitution  of  all  human  things, 
and  wholly  transcendent  moral  development  of  mankind  at 
large  you  are  asserting?  Hitherto  the  fact  has  so  univer- 
sally been  a  little  band  of  brothers,  some  small  'company 
of  poor  men,'  warring  for  the  just  against  huge  odds  and 
mighty  Combinations  that  even  the  ideal  hopes  of  the 
noblest  have  hardly  looked  for  more,  unless  by  such  com- 
pany's final  conquest,  millennium  come.  And  now,  you  say, 
all  this  is  changed.  Unexpectedly,  in  sudden  sunburst,  the 
instant  Devil  shows  his  hoof,  the  myriads  gather  to  the 
raised  Standard  of  Right;  tramp  beneath  it  thousandfold, 
contingents  from  every  country,  erect,  each  various  soldier, 
in  an  august,  victorious,  manhood;  his  legions  no  longer 
multiplex  of  hue,  but  all  in  one  known  garb,  recognisable 
at  a  glance ;  shrunk  into  a  corner ;  capable  of  final  bottling 
there.  Where,  no  doubt,  they  '11  fight  with  the  spleen  of  all 
the  under  fiends,  such  being  native  to  them;  and,  hence, 
your  cries  for  Help !  most  justified  and  noble  ?  As  James 
of  Ecclefechan1  said:  I  don't  believe  ye. 

Leagues  to  crush,  not  to  speak  of  mighty  International 
Combinations  to  do  so,  actually  holy  are  very  rare,  the 
godly  usually  finding  the  maintenance  of  their  own  king- 
doms a  sufficiently  arduous  task;  and  internationally  they 
are  never  possible  at  all  except  where  one  Faith  has  long 
reigned,  as  in  Christendom  gone  by.  When,  also,  they 
never  really  are  to  crush;  but  to  convert,  and  bring  into 

1Carlyle's  father,  vide  *  Eeminiscences. ' 


THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY    105 

the  fold :  Nothing  puts  you  to  shame :  Under  head  of  Prin- 
ciple, you  lay  title  even  to  this;  and  have  for  partner  in 
the  enterprise,  as  I  keep  reminding  you,  the  nation  which  is 
the  chosen  home  and  greatest  stronghold  of  all  that  those 
Principles  name  Powers  of  Darkness,  the  most  inimical  to 
what  you  call  cause  of  humanity  and  blest  progress,  profess 
to  be  fighting  for.  Your  league  is  to  crush,  and  unholy; 
but  the  first  colour  that  it  was  defensive  against  Aggressor. 
This  is  the  point  most  tenaciously  held  and  insisted  on: 
That  Germany  was  gratuitously  bent  on  war  for  her  own 
aggrandisements'  sake.  Point  necessarily  to  be  held  for 
own  justification,  since  without  it  the  whole  claim  to  right- 
eousness flounders  helpless.  Point  to  be  believed,  as  an 
article  of  religious  faith,  without  evidence,  infidelity  to  ask 
for  any.  Nay,  to  be  believed  in  despite  of  all  evidence; 
doubt  on  it  a  temptation  to  be  overcome  by  appeal  to  heaven 
to  strengthen  frail  mortals'  back-sliding  hearts.  Point  to 
be  iterated  and  reiterated  with  that  entire  fixity  of  precon- 
clusion  which  shuts  the  doors  on  reason.  If  we  cannot  see 
that  without  eyes  (with  it  might  be  difficult)  no  discourse 
can  be  held  with  us;  the  higher  mysteries  undemonstrable 
to  mere  earthly  vision.  If  grace  has  not  been  given  us  to 
know  this  by  the  inner  light  which  shines  in  each  soul  elect 
of  the  Lord,  then  is  it  clear  that  His  face  is  hidden  from  us, 
and  we  wander  deservedly  in  night,  not  knowing  right  hand 
from  left.  It  is  a  sad  fate,  Gentlemen,  and  pitiable  surely, 
though  I  do  admit  it  never  fell  on  the  guiltless,  and  feel 
more  and  more  that  to  address  reason  to  men  in  such  a 
hapless  case  is  like  to  prove  a  vain  deed.  Yet  ever  does 
true  inner  light  admonish:  The  Many  are  not  all,  and:  If 
human  faculty,  endeavour,  seem  but  lost  like  lightning  on 
the  Bog  of  Allen,  it  is  still  ever  something  to  keep  on. 

Again,  then,  I  say  that,  even  granting  your  untenable  hy- 
pothesis, whereon  this  war  no  more  stands  than  the  world 


106    THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY 

does  on  a  tortoise,  were  true,  did  afford  valid  ground  for 
counter  act,  the  present  counter,  and  Combination  for  it, 
would  remain  damned:  No  evil  in  the  German  could  ever 
make  this  just.  Whatever  the  German,  this  Combination 
against  him  is  malevolent,  not  benevolent ;  essentially,  in  its 
own  intrinsic  character,  malevolent:  Ill-will  is  the  one 
cement  that  binds  it  so  opposite  component  races,  no  two 
alike,  together,  not  in  Alliance,  but  in  Conspiracy.  Never 
did  or  could  the  just  form,  or  enter  league  as  we  have  seen 
that  this  was  formed  and  entered  into.  Observe  one  curious 
thing,  how  all  this  of  sacredness,  and  Cause  of  Humanity, 
was  never  heard  of  till  after  Britain  joined.  The  Alliance 
between  France  and  Russia  had  long  existed,  never  reck- 
oned a  pure  celestial  love  or  compact  of  angels,  even  by 
themselves;  but  when  Britain  would  not  let  the  German 
fight  them  two  without  her  for  a  third,  lest,  Victor,  he 
should  grow  dangerous  to  herself, — Why,  then,  at  once,  she 
swears  the  thing  most  godly;  opes  wide  her  throat  to  pro- 
claim the  Combine  sanctioned  by  the  Almighty,  heap  every 
term  of  ignominy  upon  the  single  opposite,  and  urge  his 
suppression  the  most  crying  need  of  Man  in  current  age. 
What  lineament  of  a  Michael  girt  and  drawing  to  forbid 
injustice,  is  there  in  this  ?  Had  France  and  Russia  fought 
Germany  and  Austria  the  struggle  might  have  been  tough, 
the  mutual  rages  high,  but  no  combatant  had  ever  risen  (or 
sunk)  to  the  bitter,  blind,  and  deadly  animosity  which 
Britain  instantly  displayed  the  moment  she  stepped  in. 
Vindictive  hate  the  nation  through,  crediting,  attributing 
every  species  of  atrocity;  the  Leaders  fanning  the  mob- 
fury,  heedless  what  foul  deed  it  do,  glad  of  it  for  their  own 
uses,  themselves  obsessed  with  the  same.  Gratuitous  and 
unjustifiable  entry  into  a  Foreign  Quarrel,  done  in  most 
dastardly  manner  at  the  moment  of  greatest  advantage, 
followed  for  its  glorification  by  a  torrent  of  vile  invective, 


THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY    107 

rank  abuse;  relegation  to  the  enemy  to  utter  perdition, 
exaltation  of  yourself  as  Holy  Defender ;  detraction  of  him 
as  savage  miscreant,  as  over-weening  Lucifer  and  Tyrant  of 
the  World,  chargeable  with  all  guilt,  and  sole  originator  of 
boundless  desolation.  (Why  couMn't  he  do  as  his  Grandam 
bid,  and  conform  to  the  wholesome  laws  of  her  household? 
We'd  have  tied  his  bibs  with  pleasure,  and  kept  him  in 
aprons  forever.)  No  just  Combination  ever  exhibited  spirit 
of  this  nature;  from  the  common  terrene  it  is  likewise 
absent,  as,  also  from  all  fair  trials  of  strength,  and  disputes 
between  brave  men,  which  often  have  to  be  decided  by  bat- 
tle, though  each  in  the  main  esteem  the  other ;  such  temper 
of  hell  is  alone  found  in  those  who  hate  the  just,  and  swear 
their  cause  shall  be  God's  when  they  know  it  the  devil's. 

Colours  put  on,  never  a  true  complexion.  No,  never; 
and  the  colours  just  the  same  as  before.  The  old  false  face 
on  the  one  side, — we  cannot  say  contemplating  its  now 
ancient  picture  of  the  Devil's  Head  in  Phosphorus, — excit- 
ing itself  and  the  world  with  that  artistic  production,  fresh 
traced  and  smoky  brilliant  as  in  creation's  hour.  And  on 
the  other,  in  all  probability,  very  much  the  same  true  face 
as  before ;  irrecognisable,  wholly,  as  before,  to  artists  and  to 
public  enraptured  with  their  self-conceived  'portraits.' 
Carlyle  bore  witness  of  the  German ;  also  of  the  Combina- 
tions against  him.  And  nothing  can  be  clearer  than  that 
his  witness  of  the  Combinations  does  remain  true  to  this 
day;  neither  has  evidence  turned  up,  his  witness  of  the 
German  has  ceased,  in  any  essential  point,  to  be  true.  The 
British  picture  of  the  German,  all  the  present  accusation 
and  argument,  these  things  at  least  are  so  palpably  descend- 
ants of  the  prior  ones,  whereof  Carlyle  gave  such  undeni- 
able account,  that  it  is  impossible  to  doubt  their  genera- 
tion. Never  did  son  more  perfectly  repeat  his  father's 
character  and  features  in  every  particular.    You  enfran- 


108    THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY 

chised  who  scorn  the  Past,  believe  the  Present  directly  be- 
gotten, newborn  of  a  spirit  unknown  in  Dark  Ages,  you 
object  to  the  paternity?  "Well,  I  never  said  a  child  or  for- 
bear was  lawfully  begotten ;  grant  Bastardy  to  any  length, 
and  mixed  beyond  unravelling.  Perhaps  maternity  would 
please  you  better?  We  do  here  deal  with  a  sort  of  Life 
which,  if  not  quite  immortal,  defies  all  common  means  of  do- 
ing to  death.  Mother  ancient  as  Nox,  shall  we  say,  then, 
and  of  the  like  fecundity,  ever  able  to  print  off  anew ;  and 
begetter  the  entity  well  known  as  the  Father  of  Lies,  equally 
superior  to  mortal  restrictions  in  generation?  He  may  be 
so ;  nathless  you  will  find  him  in  pedigree  houses  as  well  as 
upstart. 

In  the  olden  times,  especially  during  and  after  the  Refor- 
mation, Britain  and  Germany  were  normally,  instinctively, 
at  one ;  and  heroic  heads  in  each  intelligently  knew  that  this 
should  be.  Neither  have  they  ever  turned  away  from  this 
union,  rather  have  gone  much  forward  in  it.  British 
Nation,  however,  having  once  thoroughly  made  up  its  mind 
that  none  of  that  sort  should  guide  it  any  more,  if  for  a 
while  favourable  to  Germany  from  negative  causes,  fear  of 
French  aggrandisement,  has  never  since  drawn  toward 
Germany  from  positive.  From  the  time  of  the  first  decided 
emergence  of  Prussia  as  the  Nation  of  Deutschland  instead 
of  Austria, — Nay,  from  before  that  decided  emergence,  and, 
as  it  were  prophetically,  from  the  first  notable  appearance 
of  Prussia  on  the  world-stage  as  a  coherent  nation  with  a 
self-vitality  and  ownness  of  initiative,  taking  a  line  of  her 
own  and  visibly  growing  in  the  favour  of  heaven ;  capable, 
if  not  betimes  cut  down,  of  becoming  the  Chief  in  Deutsch- 
land instead  of  Austria ; — from  that  earlier  date  has  Britain 
shewn  animosity,  one  of  those  earthly-causeless  hostilities 
and  unreasoning  repulsions,  which  have  root  in  man 's  soul, 
not  in  diplomacy  or  any  mundane  interest,  and  which  to 


THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY    109 

this  hour  keeps  her  on  the  side  she  is  on:  Opposition  side. 
It  was  then  that  this  discrepancy  began,  and  it  is  so  that  it 
continues.  Not  till  the  Briton  had  for  himself  sought  shel- 
ter in  mendacities  did  his  face  grow  strange  to  this  brother. 
That  his  face  should  then  grow  strange,  become  set  against 
the  Prussian,  is  no  marvel !  For  it  does  lie  in  the  nature  of 
man  that  he,  turned  shifty,  shall  chiefly  rage  at  whoso 
remains  veridical,  shoots  up  in  integrity ;  and  the  more  so 
the  closer  of  kin.  You  were  shocked  at  the  imagined  sug- 
gestion of  the  Christ  of  Nations;  wholly  imagined,  for  I 
never  meant  it,  or  could  endure  it ;  we  had  enough  of  thatJ 
ere  while  from  your  precious  Ally ;  but,  though  the  degree 
be  not  comparable,  the  kind  holds  true,  and  this  I  did  and 
do  mean,  shall  have  more  to  say  on  it  before  done. 

There  was  a  venom  in  those  prior  Combinations  could 
have  owed  its  existence  to  naught  else  but  the  hatred  of  the 
vicious  for  the  true.  Original  'Detestable  Project'  for  par- 
titioning Prussia,  throttling  her  down  and  preventing 
feared  expansion.  Is  it  not  amazing  what  an  amount  of 
killing  this  has  taken  ?  "Was  it  not  well  said  to  spring  from 
the  bottomless?  Russia  alone  may  at  every  appearance  of 
it  into  the  light  of  day  have  been  a  party  to  it,  the  others 
very  various,  changeful ;  yet  it  sprang,  and  again  and  again 
sprang,  evidently  of  a  life  prseternatural.  After  so  long  a 
dormancy  as  to  have  seemed  utterly  effaced,  dead  beyond 
possible  resuscitation,  it  has  sprung  another  time.  For, 
however  different  in  hue  and  form,  the  Present  is  essentially 
the  same  in  spirit  and  aim ;  proceeds  by  the  same  arguments 
and  with  the  same  accusations ;  often  uses  almost  identically 
the  same  words:  Constantly  have  I  observed  how  the  cur- 
rent charges  against  Germany,  the  character  alleged  of  the 
German,  motives  and  actions  attributed  to  him,  in  a  word, 
the  whole  of  the  present  Combination's  own  accounts  of 
itself  and  of  the  nation  it  seeks  to  crush,  are  little  other  than 


110    THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY 

paraphrases  of  those  exclaims  of  your  forefathers  concern- 
ing Friedrich  and  his  Prussia  which  are  given  in  Carlyle's 
history.  Which  is  a  thing  worth  reflecting  on.  The  prior 
allegations  and  accusations  were  identically  the  same  as 
those  of  to-day,  they  were  as  universally,  as  zealously,  'be- 
lieved, '  and  as  vociferously  asserted  then  as  now ;  and  they 
were  totally  false,  lies  utter,  absolutely  contrary  to  the 
facts.  Friedrich 's  first  war  was  voluntary,  but  just.  All 
his  others  were  defensive,  forced  upon  him  by  iniquitous 
attempts  of  neighbours  to  do  outrage  upon  him  and  his; 
and  he  showed  a  most  remarkable  absence  of  ambition,  re- 
fusing to  claim  more  than  his  right  even  after  full  oppor- 
tunity to  claim  more  had  come  to  him,  might  fairly  have 
been  taken  advantage  of  had  he  gone  upon  damages  pay- 
able. Yet  the  English  called  his  first  act  offensive  a  theft, 
swore  all  the  subsequent  wars  were  provoked  by  him  in  the 
hope  of  new  'successful  robberies';  outside  their  own  angry 
imaginations  and  hallucinations,  no  shadow  of  a  foundation 
existing  for  this.  Treachery  and  thievery  were  on  all  sides 
except  his,  therefore  charged  on  him.  British  Doctors  of 
State  and  cultivated  classes,  with  the  uncultivated  follow- 
ing them  in  that  implicit  faith  they  can  hardly  help  or 
avoid,  looked  all  their  lives  straight  into  a  contemporary 
Friedrich  and  his  Prussia,  and  never  saw  him  or  it  at  all ; 
saw  nothing  there  save  vain  and  wicked  imaginations  of 
their  own  hearts;  exhibited  the  extremes  of  vicious  igno- 
rance, confirmed  platitude,  and,  wilful  perverse  in  persua- 
sion of  their  caricature's  verisimilitude,  exultingly  denied 
themselves  in  taunt  and  mock,  most  sorry  wit  and  sarcasm 
too  vulgar  impudent  for  lofty  airs  to  sweeten :  All  then  as) 
now,  all  now  as  then.  And  let  me  quote  directly  a  word 
of  Carlyle's  hereon:  'Ignorance  by  herself  is  an  awkward 
'lumpish  wench;  not  yet  fallen  into  vicious  courses,  nor  to 
'be  uncharitably  treated:  but  Ignorance  and  Insolence — 


THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY    111 

'these  are  for  certain  an  unlovely  Mother  and  Bastard! 
'Yes, — and  they  may  depend  upon  it,  the  grim  Parish- 
'  beadles  of  the  Universe  are  out  upon  the  track  of  them,  and 
'oakum  and  the  correction  house  are  infallible  sooner  or 
'later ! '  You  can  no  longer  plead  ignorance  and  the  vicious 
course  is  too  apparent.  Master  Winston,  Lloyd  George,  and 
heads  of  hydra  innumerable,  consider  your  own  utterances 
in  defame  of  living  Hohenzollern ;  nor  natter  yourselves  the 
Universe  has  no  correction  house  or  Beadles  to  bring  you 
to  it. 

The  Seven  Years '  effort  of  United  Europe  was  a  thing  of 
blackest  infamy,  and  charged  all  infamy  upon  its  victim; 
held  him  up  for  general  execration,  and  got  millions  of  the 
weaker  sort  to  'innocently'  believe  that  victim  worthy  of 
damnation,  the  Allies  marshalled  Hosts  of  Heaven  versus 
one  Satanic:  Fact  being  much  nearer  Devils'  Legions 
swarming  round  one  human.  Again  the  same  to-day. 
That  old  Combine's  methods  also  very  similar.  Sly,  and 
kept  from  view,  professing  Entente;  and  treaties  of  most 
certain  existence  perhaps  not  put  on  paper.  The  same 
huge  outry  of  See !  how  he  provoked  the  war  for  evil  pur- 
pose of  his  own,  when  he  would  not  wait  completion  of 
plans,  refused  to  stand  on  the  defensive,  went  on  it,  and 
once  sure  of  purposed  attack,  attacked  himself  betimes. 
The  same  absurd  charge  that  preparedness  for  war  and 
instant  readiness  to  fight  proved  wish  for  it ;  so  ridiculously 
harped  on  these  hours.  The  Germans  have  been  preparing 
for  years;  the  Kaiser  saw  war  to  be  inevitable,  and  acted 
accordingly:  My  friends,  you  seem  to  be  a  little  ill  off  for 
evidence,  hard  put  to  it  to  prove  your  case,  when  you  point 
to  these  very  undeniable  facts  in  such  triumphant  conclu- 
sive fashion.  I  never  supposed  him  to  be  a  nose  of  wax 
that  would  sit  charmed  till  moment  convenient  for  demo- 
lition was  vouchsafed  the  waiting  prayers  by  heaven.    Am- 


112    THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY 

bitious,  tricky,  changeful,  capricious,  infirm  of  temper  and 
of  purpose; — all  to  the  old  tune,  each  item  crops  out  in 
turn,  identical  with  bygone.  'For  Newcastleisms,  impious 
Poltrooneries  in  a  Nation  do  not  die ;  neither,  thank  God,  do 
Cromwellisms  and  pious  Heroisms.'  The  same  charge  of 
diabolism,  atrocity,  perfidy;  of  arch-enemy  breaking  all 
laws,  etc.,  etc :  "Which  is  normal  on  the  part  of  those  them- 
selves guilty  of  plot.  Moreover,  the  fact  of  the  others' 
going  on  defence,  of  his  starting  the  mischief  so  far  as  outer 
public  can  see,  and  being  indisputably  the  first  in  overt  act, 
is  not  only  seized  as  excuse,  but  to  souls  unveracious  be- 
comes excuse  and  washes  out  their  guilt,  so  that  they  can 
after  really  persuade  themselves  their  consciences  are  now 
clean — and  always  were.  For  mendacious  creatures  are 
everywhere  their  own  first  dupes,  self-deluded,  pretending 
to  themselves  motives  other  than  they  have  or  had,  and  dis- 
guising ill  in  seeming  fair:  Catiline  conspiracy,  acted  on 
before  fulfilment,  shrieks  of  wanton  outrage  on  peaceable 
good  citizens;  raises  front  of  injured  innocence,  and,  since 
not  proven  guilty,  believes  itself  God's  darling,  prey  of 
lawless  brute  and  cunning.  Bruhls  and  Ententes  find  in 
the  gentle,  modest,  Isabel  of  Measure  for  Measure,  bold 
only  in  the  spirit's  moving  grace,  their  most  perfect  absol- 
ver;  restorer  of  honour  bright,  reinspirer  with  Faith  and 
Hope, — if  not  quite  Charity ! 

1  Our  acts  did  not  o  'ertake  our  bad  intent, 

'And  must  be  buried  but  as  an  intent 

'That  perished  by  the  way:  thoughts  are  no  subjects; 

'Intents  but  merely  thoughts. 

'Mariana:  Merely,  my  lord. 

'Duke:  Your  suits  unprofitable, — ' 

Methinks  it  is ;  but  yet  they  do,  in  their  souls,  sincerely 
believe  the  sins  themselves  by  providence  escaped  have  now 


THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY    113 

descended  on  the  head  they  hoped  should  feel  their  heel, — 
shall  now,  with  heaven  to  sanction. 

Still  further,  there  is  always  here  that  phenomenon  so 
invariably  sequent  upon  any  man  who  does  conspicuously 
act  in  a  vital  justice,  that  of  his  being  instantly  judged  by 
all  and  sundry  by  a  standard  of  morality  the  judgera 
never  dream  of  applying  to  themselves  or  to  any  who  offers 
less  title  than  he  to  be  reckoned  upright.  Every  just  man 
has  bet  this  a  thousand  times,  and  seen  it  to  be  the  law 
universally.  It  is  not  altogether  of  shamelessness,  nor, 
whatever  height  it  rises  to,  hideous  deed  it  lead  to,  a  thing 
merely  detestable.  For  it  is,  of  course,  essentially  an  invol- 
untary, unescapable  confession  by  them  and  confirmation 
of  him ;  a  spontaneous  admission,  with  often  a  vein  of  true 
loyalty  as  yet  troubled  helpless,  contrarious,  filled  with 
manifold  vexations  of  spirit,  but  capable  of  purification. 
Undoubtedly,  this  is  born  of  sin;  all  exclaim  at  real  or 
imagined  fault  in  one  centred  for  criticism  with  simulta- 
neous passing  lightly  over,  as  mere  peccadillo,  act  excused 
by  necessity,  moment's  infirmity,  or  even  as  commendable 
virtue,  treble  guilt  in  the  same  by  whosoever  walks  orthodox, 
belongs  to  own  party,  or  stands  just  ordinary  mortal ;  and 
in  many  grows  on  from  bad  to  worse,  the  eminently  unpar- 
donable ;  yet,  also  in  others,  it  stirs  the  execrated  noble  to 
pity,  to  silent  patience  and  timely  aid,  prompts  him  to  a 
hopeful  ministration,  and  then  indeed  Redeemer.  If  you 
marvel  at  such  reflections,  I  cannot  help  it.  Friedrich  was 
a  mocker,  sceptic  infidel,  you  say :  And  those  who  gnashed 
their  teeth  upon  him  most  Christian  ?  Wide  howl  of  viru- 
lent animosity  raged  round  him,  blind  and  causeless ;  yet  he 
never  answered  in  the  like,  nor  lost  in  human  brotherhood 
for  the  bitterest  of  his  cursers :  The  Reich  which  joined  the 
Combine,  put  him  under  Ban  of  Empire,  lives  now  in  one 
fold,  staunch  for  ownest  Captain  and  one  common  Father- 


114    THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY 

land.  Is  there  not  in  these  facts  something  more  of  Chris- 
tian than  in  your  litanies? 

In  that  Seven  Years'  effort,  England,  chancing  by  special 
providence  to  come  temporarily  under  the  leadership  of  an 
heroical  man,  to  whom  all  noble  in  her  responded,  took  side 
with  the  One.  Yet  the  ignoble  in  her  soon  ousted  Chatham, 
deserted  Ally  in  foul  treasonous  manner,  and  never  gave  up 
the  prior  charges ;  have  since  but  gone  on  elaborating  them : 
Britain 's  present  action  is  a  sequel  of  this,  directly  descend- 
ed from  it ;  comes  not  by  discernment  of  facts  on  the  part  of 
the  nation  or  its  leaders,  but  through  persistence  in  baseless 
delusion,  inveterate  building  in  own  fancy  viciously,  and  a 
deliberate  refusal  to  see  or  confess  aught  German  as  it  was 
or  as  it  is.  False  notions  of  that  character  are  bad  enough 
in  any  case,  for  they  simply  cannot  spring  in  soul  that  is 
itself  true ;  but  held  after  fullest  exposition  of  their  falsity, 
— exposition  made  in  broadest  humanity ;  no  partisan  spirit 
adding  fresh  false  colour  by  white-wash  of  the  maligned, 
just  revelation  of  him  in  his  natural  stature,  with  all  the 
faults  and  infirmities  that  were  his ;  nothing  disguised,  and 
no  magnification  of  him  beyond  his  actual  stature;  richly 
equitable  in  warm  as  level  sympathy  with  every  party; 
clear  in  sight  of  the  Maligners '  guilt,  yet  void  of  every  nar- 
row condemnation,  cherishing  each  trait  of  manhood  to  be 
found  in  them ;  stably  measured  everywhere,  and  forgetful 
of  no  condoning  circumstance ; — to  hold  the  false  notions 
after  this  is  infinitely  worse;  the  crime  which  the  bravest, 
gentlest,  have  ever  felt  to  be  most  cardinal,  chief  Mother  of 
Iniquity,  and  blackest  proof  of  Covenant  with  Hell  that 
men  can  give. 

And,  when  we  look  at  the  condoning  circumstances,  there 
is  one  thing  not  at  all  the  same  to-day.  Britain  has  not 
stumbled  into  this  war  somnambulantly,  driven  on  by  spec- 
tral terrors,  and  in  a  stupidity  perhaps  the  most  honest  in" 


THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY    115 

the  world ;  she  has  gone  into  this  war  very  wakefully,  and 
with  no  own  cause  of  war  hapless  confused  with  other  wars ; 
neither  blundered  in  a  stolid  honesty,  but  in  an  attorney's 
adroitness,  lively  quick  in  damned  enterprise.  Driven  on 
by  phantasm  of  terror,  may  be  true  enough,  the  terror  real 
and  extremely  phantasmal,  but  then  the  creation  of  brains 
more  vicious  than  sick.  And  even  had  it  been  otherwise 
one  could  only  answer  again  as  Carlyle  long  since :  '  Our 
'great  grandfathers  lived  in  perpetual  terror  that  they 
'would  be  devoured  by  France';  (I  give  it  in  his  words. 
You  can  substitute  'We  live  ...  by  Germany';  etc.)  'that 
'French  ambition  would  overset  the  Celestial  Balance,  and 
'proceed  next  to  eat  the  British  Nation.  Stand  upon  your 
'guard  then,  one  would  have  said:  Look  to  your  ships,  to 
'your  defences,  to  your  industries;  to  your  virtues  first  of 
'all — your  virtutes,  manhoods,  conformities  to  the  Divine 
'  Law  appointed  you ;  which  are  the  great  and  indeed  sole 
'strength  to  any  Man  or  Nation!  Discipline  yourselves, 
'wisely,  in  all  kinds;  more  and  more,  till  there  be  no  anar- 
'  chic  fibre  left  in  you.  ' '  Unarchic, ' '  disciplined  at  all  points, 
'you  might  then,  I  should  say,  with  supreme  composure, 
'let  France,  and  the  whole  world  at  its  back,  try  what  they 
'could  do  upon  you  and  the  unique  little  Island  you  are 
'  so  lucky  as  to  live  in  ? '  Just  what  we  have  done,  you  were 
going  to  interject  after  the  first  three  injunctions.  I  grant 
it  and  rejoice  in  it ;  but  the  remainder,  and  major,  you  have 
not  done  at  all.  A  pretty  anarchy  was  all  abuzz  at  the 
very  instant  that  you  made  war;  but  this  particular  is 
scarce  worth  noting  in  a  state  so  normal.  French  Ambition 
was  real,  though  perfectly  futile,  as  all  such  vanities  are; 
yet  the  injunction  was :  Look  to  your  own  island,  run  not 
diplomatising,  fighting  abroad  in  concerns  and  quarrels  not 
yours.  German  ambition  is  a  Bugaboo  of  your  own  crea- 
tion ;  but  had  it  too  been  real  the  injunction  had  remained 


116    THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY 

the  same.  Assuredly,  never  to  run  bidding  for  allies  and, 
by  subtle  copartnery  bring  war;  then,  snatching  the 
moment  for  dastardly  onslaught,  say  you  had  to  in  honour. 

What  evidence  does  the  character  of  this  Combination 
afford  of  the  character  of  the  One  combined  against  1  Take 
me  correctly,  please.  I  did  not  say  What  evidence  does 
this  Combination  offer  as  to  the  character  of  the  One? 
That  is  a  thing  very  completely  known,  a  thing  which  he 
who  runs  may  read — and  not  credit.  More  than  offered, 
pressed  on  every  comer,  beshouted  into  every  corner,  but 
a  no  evidence;  a  story-teller's  figment  and  lying  incoher- 
ency,  worthy  of  no  man's  regard,  except  as  significant  of 
the  fabricators.  A  Bedlamism  and  a  Nursery  tale,  with 
the  difference  that  tales  so  told  by  men  have  not  the  inno- 
cence of  the  nursery,  rather  the  spleenful  guile  of  Newgate. 
Whoever  wishes  to  know  aught  of  the  German,  to  learn  what 
he  is,  good  man  or  bad,  and  what  sort  of  either,  rests  con- 
fidently on  the  primary  assumption  that  he  is  bound  to  be  a 
man  made  more  or  less  in  the  image  of  his  Maker,  like  the 
rest  of  us;  sweeps  the  Combination's  (mainly  Britain's) 
delirious  detractions  of  him  into  the  gutter,  as  preliminary 
essential  to  any  sight.  Mere  envenomed  delusions,  those; 
perversions,  distortions,  glaringly  incongruous  and  impos- 
sible, making  up  a  picture  like  unto  none  that  ever  drew 
breath  on  this  planet;  absolutely  unbelievable  by  mortal 
still  compos  mentis.  The  generation,  ready  credence  of 
which  by  the  British  may  afford  terrible  evidence  of  their 
moral  condition ;  but  which  cannot  mirror  for  us  one  single 
feature  of  the  German.  Each  healthy  soul  rejects  all  that 
instinctively,  and  not  without  abhorrence. 

What  evidence  does  the  character  of  this  Combination 
afford  the  Character  of  the  One  combined  against,  is  what 
I  did  say.    It  may  not  be  possible  for  man,  restricted  to 


THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY    117 

negative  evidence  in  this  matter,  to  give  any  very  con- 
clusive answer  as  to  German's  character;  yet  there  is  no 
question  sufficient  intellect  could  deduce  his  character  so. 
And  I  think  it  probable  that  if  some  higher  embodied  In- 
telligence than  man  were  suddenly  to  appear  among  us  out 
of  infinity  this  instant  it  would,  after  one  careful  perusal  of 
the  British  and  World's  Indictment  of  Germany,  though 
knowing  otherwise  nothing  of  the  matter,  come  quickly 
to  very  definite  conclusion  the  One  there  execrated  was  of 
the  eminently  just.  Let  us  drop  speculation  and  speak 
plain  man :  It  is  not  in  my  experience,  knowledge,  or  power 
of  veridical  conception,  that  Combination  like  the  present 
has  ever,  or  could  ever,  come  into  being  except  against  one 
most  distinctly  of  the  juster  kind;  that  accusations,  and 
accounts  of  quarrel,  of  the  nature  of  those  made  and  given 
by  the  British,  have  ever,  or  could  ever  be  made  or  given 
unless  as  contrary  to  Man  or  Nation  that  had  the  right  in 
the  quarrel  very  preponderantly;  that  no  spirit  such  as 
informs  the  British  verms  the  German  has  ever  been,  or 
could  ever  be,  excited  save  by  the  presence  in  their  Protag- 
onist of  somewhat  that  is  chiefly  human  and  heroical — ever 
encountering  on  this  earth  a  deadliness  of  opposition  which 
nothing  else  can  raise.  It  is  a  most  wild  notion,  that  of  the 
myriads  swarming  to  Right.  The  German  stands  alone 
because  he  has  no  kin,  or  none  brave  enough,  and  never  was 
the  Devil  without  in  this  world.  The  wrath  of  knaves  is 
easy  kindled,  but,  alas!  seldom  do  the  just  rise  quickly  in 
aid.  Had  the  German  had  a  tithe  of  the  cunning  ambition 
you  attribute,  he  had  never  lacked  for  company ;  many  had 
been  ready  to  share  peril  in  the  hope  of  prize,  though  so 
few  for  God 's  sake.    You  have  found  this,  legions  to  friend. 

As  was  the  case  in  the  Seven  Years'  War,  the  problem 
before   Germany   is,    essentially,   Defence,   not   Conquest. 


118    THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY 

Charge  of  voluntary  war,  iniquitously  undertaken  for  ag- 
gressive objects,  made  by  those  who  had  themselves  been 
plotting  for  wanton  outrage,  and  who  never  hesitated  to 
seize  any  opportunity  for  aggression  that  turned  up  for 
themselves,  was  as  loud  and  universal  then  as  now;  yet 
utterly  baseless.  It  is  never  difficult  to  get  the  Mobs  to 
believe  such  charges;  but,  with  the  facts  otherwise,  their 
unanimity  will  not  profit  them  or  you.  You  say  that 
Germany  made  war  for  conquest ;  pretend  this  the  basis  of 
your  own  acts,  and  exult  in  having  checked  imagined  aim — 
one  could  not  say  how  many  imagined  aims,  for  your  minds 
are  extremely  fertile  in  that  kind.  But  no  word  of  truth 
comes  from  you ;  and  the  real  problem  for  Germany  is 
to-day,  as  before,  defence  of  her  own  countries.  She  gained 
no  conquest  before,  not  an  inch  of  territory,  or  shilling 
of  indemnity,  much  ruin;  yet  recovered  marvellously,  and 
manifold  accessions  of  territory,  and  more  important 
things,  followed  after.  You  do  not  now  pretend  merely 
to  wish  to  check  conquest,  but  to  cut  down  and  destroy; 
and  this  aim  of  yours,  if  original  vindictive,  is  greatly 
intensified  by  a  dim  perception  of  the  fact  that  if  not 
utterly  beaten  Germany  will  be  victor,  manifold  acces- 
sion to  her,  blight  upon  and  self-wreck  to  her  opposites, 
again  sure  to  follow :  Which  could  by  no  possibility  be  the 
case  if  her  act  were  aggressive  and  your  cause  just.  Suf- 
ficing check  to  the  aggression  were  then  enough,  and  no 
good  could  follow  to  her  or  ill  to  you.  Your  instinct,  that, 
if  simply  not  beaten,  Germany  will  be  victor,  is  true; 
and  frightfully  betrays  you :  for  it  could  not  be  true  unless 
Germany  were  in  the  right,  yourselves  in  the  wrong.  A 
nest  of  pirates  needs  to  be  destroyed,  you  urge  ?  Granted ! 
But  no  nest  of  pirates,  after  prolonged  exhaustive  struggle 
with  a  world  of  foes,  springs  up  again  in  native  majesty, 
blossoms  fairer  than  before,  and  widens  kingdom  in  peace ; 


THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY    119 

its  opposites,  in  Mighty  Combination  futile  to  exterminate 
collapsing  namelessly,  like  creatures  whose  own  limbs  fail 
them,  Messrs.  Churchill  &  Co.,  know  well  that  there  lies 
their  dread :  Not  supremely  victorious  we,  able  to  suppress, 
He  grows,  our  Empire  crumbles :  and  it  is  not  an  idle  fear. 
But  alas !  sirs,  although  in  part  aware  of  this,  you  do  not 
guess  that  an  Empire,  if  once  really  dependent  on  any  such 
issue,  is  already  past  hope  in  jeopardy ;  no  completest  sup- 
pression of  another  capable  of  saving  it  for  more  than  an 
hour.  In  a  little  while  you  shall  see  them  as  you  wish. 
Nay,  by  God,  I  do  not  wish  that.  But  my  loathing  of 
your  deeds  and  spirit  so  grows  I  am  apt  to  cease  endeavour 
to  bring  reason  as  a  foolishness,  perhaps  an  impiety;  to 
say  to  you :  Go  on,  then :  do  your  utmost ;  Ban-dogs  of  the 
gutter  flesh  all  your  fangs  in  man,  so  far  as  able.  Tear  him 
to  pieces,  if  you  can :  Death  is  no  ill  fate  for  him.  Should 
human  breath  be  wasted  in  speech  to  such  as  ye  ?  "Why  fear 
for  him?  And  is  it  not  affront  to  him  to  think  he  can  be 
aided  by  words  addressed  to  kennel?  They  are  not  ad- 
dressed to  kennel,  and  I  have  hope  in  Britons  still  could 
tell  you:  There's  your  home,  skulk  in,  tails  down,  and  no 
more  think  to  voice  or  lead  Our  Nation. 

Yes,  the  problem  before  Germany  is  Defence,  now  as 
before.  All  credit  to  her  for  going  on  the  defensive;  for 
being  long  prepared  and  ready  to  meet  your  machinations, 
subtle  Ententes,  pretending  peace,  so  long  as  obedient, 
conformable,  to  each  exsufflicate,  aroitrium,  which  aroi- 
triums,  of  course,  grew  ever  the  more  exsufflicate,  and  the 
ne  plus  ultra,  which  proved  beyond  all  toleration,  far  from 
the  first;  let  her  hold  whatever  she  can  keep  or  get,  in 
counterpoise  to  colonies  snatched  defenceless  by  British 
colonies  Britain  gave  leave  to  snatch  yet  would  plead 
impotence  to  compel  disgorge  again;  but  the  problem  re- 
mains defence.    If  Germany  can  once  more  hold  her  own 


120    THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY 

against  the  world,  no  more  is  needed  of  her  in  this  conflict ; 
and,  however  great  the  present  cost  or  'ruin,'  she  will  so 
prove  conqueror  in  a  better  sort  than  if  Paris,  Petrograd 
and  London  had  come  under  her  feet.  One  knows  not  yet 
if  she  can  do  this ;  but,  if  she  can,  she  will  again  have  given 
such  proof  of  sterling  human  worth  in  all  kinds  as  no 
flaming  conquest  could,  more  blest  for  her  than  shining 
victor.  Conqueror  has  never  been  her  role  at  all  since  she 
came  on  the  stage  of  world  history,  much  less  Adept  in 
Chicane.  No,  never  those  so  persistently  attributed  vanities 
and  astucities;  but  a  grand  solidity,  noble  integrity,  and 
growth  by  equitable  expansion;  each  increase  well  earned 
and  worthily  maintained.  And,  able  to  hold  out,  should  it 
be  no  more,  the  sequel  is  again  sure  to  be  rich  in  all  manner 
of  increase  to  her  and  her  sons'  sons;  in  that  case,  the 
future  times  will  restore  all  present  loss  a  hundredfold,  far 
beyond  present  forecast. 

So  far  as  it  is  permissible  for  man  to  pray — for  what 
impiety  to  dream  the  Eternal  knows  not  better  than  we ! — 
it  is  my  deliberate  conviction  that  every  brave  man,  Briton 
more  than  any,  should  pray  that  Germany  may  not  be  de- 
feated in  this  contest;  that  each  should  do  whatever  he 
can  and  justly  may  to  prevent  such  hideous  consummation. 

Alone  against  the  "World,  she  stands  just  now.  It  is  the 
normal  portion  of  the  heroical — man  or  nation;  and  he 
must  not  rage,  but  be  strong  in  all  humanity,  in  valour  and 
in  pity,  in  severest  doom  and  tenderest  forgiveness — must 
do  his  utmost,  yet  unreservedly  commit  the  issue  to  Him 
who  guides  the  battles'  storm  and  whose  path  is  in  the 
deep.  None  rises  to  his  aid,  those  whose  own  welfare  is 
bound  with  his  dare  not  venture,  and  some  whose  chief 
salvation  were  in  his  victory  are  hot  in  enmity.  The  odds 
are  huge ;  and  time  was  when  Briton  put  his  trust  in  some- 


THE  COMBINATION  AGAINST  GERMANY    121 

thing  else:  Let  German  now.  Mighty  Combinations  are 
very  composite,  much  liable  to  split,  generally  more  ter- 
rifying to  contemplate  than  to  wrestle  with;  and,  if  in 
your  own  right  hands  and  constant  souls  lies  the  only 
certainty,  there  never  is  any  knowing  when  or  how  heaven 
means  to  send  help.  0  Briton,  that  I  speak  this  to  your 
foe !  I  speak  it  to  our  Brother ;  for,  were  we  true  to  our- 
selves, none  other  on  earth  were  so  thoroughly  our  brother. 
Be  successful,  Briton,  in  your  endeavours  to  crush  him, 
and  I  do  not  think  I  could  ever  own  kin  with  you  more: 
Seldom  did  Nation  put  hand  to  more  dark  and  foul  a  deed. 
And  what  hideous  cruelty  has  your  horrid  obsession  made 
you  partaker  of,  chief  leader  in !  I  do  not  refer  to  atrocity, 
blood  and  desolation,  slaughter  of  the  innocent,  or  seeming 
innocent.  No,  but  to  the  hemming  in  for  destruction  of  the 
Right  Valiant,  the  seeking  to  cripple,  to  thwart,  or  exter- 
minate, a  simple  veracious  Manhood ;  in  whose  arrival  at 
royal  sway  on  earth,  also,  lies  the  one  possibility  of  saving 
the  innocent,  preventing  unrighteous  bloodshed,  all  other 
mischief  whatsoever.  'The  whole  world  risen  like  a  delir- 
'ious  Sorcerer's  Sabbath  round  One,  against  whom,  were 
'  the  truth  known,  there  is  no  solid  complaint,  intent  to  hurl 
'the  mountains  on  him.  Go  to  the  theatre  and  there  weep 
'  at  Tragedy,  at  the  illusory  representation  of  Tragedy,  per- 
'  suade  yourselves  of  just  abhorrence  for  the  villainous,  gen- 
'erous  sympathy  with  the  noble  of  soul,  victim  of  knaves' 
'wrath  and  honesty's  cowardice,  while  in  life  you  vie  with 
'each  other  in  cursed  execration,  exult  in  the  hope  of 
'trampling  Sole  Man  under  herd's  cloven  feet' x 

xCarlyle    (also    Wilhelmina)    on  'Seven  Years'  Combination';    in 
different  places,  and  partly  in  paraphrase  here. 


CHAPTER  VI 
REAL  CAUSES 


VI 
REAL   CAUSES 

PRELIMINARY 

Ostensible  Causes  are  easily  dealt  with:  The  reasons 
certain  Responsible  Entities  are  pleased  to  show  their  so 
loyal  and  believing,  their  so  suspicious  and  fractious,  yet 
ever  very  gullible,  Publics :  Here  you  have  something  def- 
inite, already  articulated  for  you;  a  more  or  less  distinct 
human  statement  of  facts  or  no  facts  to  work  upon.  And, 
in  either  case,  true  or  false,  distinct  or  indistinct,  it  is  the 
human  statement  which  stands  as  the  mark  of  your  criti- 
cism, whether  invulnerable  thereto  or  speedily  shattered, 
not  the  infinite  deep  which  forms  the  subject  of  your  en- 
quiry. Occasionally,  the  human  statement  itself  refers  to 
the  infinite,  and,  though  clear,  is  not  limited,  as  when  Crom- 
well said  he  warred  with  Spain  because  she  was  Anti- 
Christ:  In  which  case  the  Ostensible  may  be  one  with  the 
Real,  and  as  nameless;  the  uttered  statement  merely  float- 
ing over  your  battleranks  as  a  symbolical  word,  all  meaning 
attachable  to  which  is  left  to  yourselves,  and  cannot  be 
found  except  in  the  deep.  Much  more  usually,  however,  the 
Ostensible  makes  no  stretchings  after  the  infinite,  but  is 
prudently  rendered  to  us  very  definite,  sharp  in  outline, 
cut,  dried,  and  made  suitable  for  universal  handling ;  care- 
fully prepared  for  ready  intelligibility  to  meanest  capacity, 
and  the  ending  of  doubt  in  one  and  all ;  so  that  each  man, 
the  Nation  through,  asked  Why  we  are  at  War  ?  can  answer 
instantly  with  irrefragible  dictum.  Some  hiccup  of  a  treaty 
infringed  (how  many  yourselves  have  torn  up  never  breathe 

125 


126  REAL  CAUSES 

of) ;  almost  anything  will  do,  if,  hung  up  in  vacuo,  it  seem 
to  have  a  logical  coherence  and  no  contra  be  admitted  to  a 
hearing.  Some  simple  law  of  Cocker,  self-evident  and  un- 
deniable, with  none  to  ask,  Wherein  relevant?  Or  how  it 
proves  your  confident  summing  up  of  an  infinite  complex- 
ity ?  If  a  quasi-religious  doxy,  whereon  men  feel  they  may 
securely  stake  their  salvation,  while  their  property  is  put 
to  hazard,  the  happier  hit.  Yet  you  scarcely  need  this; 
for  it  comes  by  nature  where  the  other  is :  Perpetual  iter- 
ation of  the  irrefragible  dictum  will  itself  bring  assurance 
of  a  righteous  infinity  fought  for,  and  God  to  friend.  Each 
side,  every  side,  succeeds  well  enough  in  working  itself  up 
in  that  fashion;  and  the  Ostensible  are  of  little  value 
except  as  indications  of  their  pronouncer  's  veracity.  Some- 
times they  are  true,  as  far  as  they  go;  are  beautiful  and 
wise ;  and,  then,  you  may  pass  insensibly  out  from  them  into 
the  boundless  Real  they  honestly  rest  on.  When  false  criti- 
cism is  satisfied  if  she  can  declare  where  and  how,  and  has 
then  done  with  them;  but  with  Eeal  Causes  you  can  never 
have  done.  No  insurmountable  task  to  slit  a  British  White 
Paper  'Case'  into  ribbons,  or  drive  it  off  as  chaff  on  the 
winds,  to  trouble  no  mortal  more — were  the  foetid  exhala- 
tions let  out  in  the  process  once  blown  away,  too!  But 
Real  Causes  are  totally  beyond  man's  compass. 

Ranging  in  a  sphere  somewhat  intermediate  between  Os- 
tensible and  Real  Causes,  are  the  objects  which  the  parties 
actually  had  in  eye  in  going  into  war.  With  the  true,  the 
objects  declared  are,  of  course,  simply  so  much  of  the 
actual  objects  as  it  was  wise  to  make  public,  and  nothing 
contradictory;  with  the  knavish,  cunning  falsehoods  con- 
cocted to  disguise  the  actual;  but  with  the  mendacious  (in 
the  worser  sense  in  which  the  word  mendacious  is  here 
almost  always  used,  namely  mendacious  of  soul  rather  than 
tongue)  subtle  conceits,  which  in  fact  reveal  their  actual 


REAL  CAUSES  127 

aims  nearly  as  clearly  as  a  true  man's  word,  yet  which 
carry  their  own  kin  along  in  unanimous  persuasion  by  per- 
f ectness  of  accord  with  a  lying  spirit  abroad  in  all ;  whereof 
those  conceits  are  born,  and  wherein  they  gather  strength 
through  its  sweeping  response.  Thus,  if  the  knavish  never 
will,  the  mendacious  never  can,  tell  their  objects  truthfully, 
the  latter  do  generally  tell  plainly  enough  to  man  who 
marks  their  discourse,  though  the  precise  objects  of  the 
former  cannot  be  discovered  till  later  days,  when  secrets 
of  statecraft  have  been  unearthed.  Still,  the  Real  Causes 
are  no  more  to  be  found  in  the  specific  aims  the  parties 
actually  had  than  in  the  accounts  of  those  aims  they  openly 
rendered  to  the  public;  and  we  do  not  mean  to  .dwell  on 
them.  The  wnspecific  aims,  dynamical  motives  temper  spirit, 
run  deeper.  But  Real  Causes  are  a  soundless  infinite,  and 
the  utmost  man  can  do  is  to  articulate  a  little  of  what  he  sees 
to  have  been  among  the  causes,  did  have  share  in  the 
matter,  and  went  to  make  up  a  whole  unreportable,  un- 
knowable. 

I  shall  say  first,  therefore,  that  this  war  is  fundamentally 
one  of  Opposition :  It  originated  not  in  the  Will  of  a  Brute, 
but  in  Enmity  to  Man.  To  say  that  a  particular  party  is 
the  cause  of  a  war  because  without  him  it  had  not  been  is, 
of  course,  always  sheer  nonsense.  His  existence  may  very 
likely  be  disturbing  to  some,  extremely  unwelcome  to  them ; 
but  he  did  not  create  himself,  and  being  had  the  right  to  be. 
Each  (Man  or  Nation)  is  born  into  this  world  without  will 
of  his  own  in  the  matter;  and,  if  war  result  from  his 
presence,  he  is  only  the  cause  of  it  if  he  have  charged 
abroad  lawlessly;  have,  whether  arrogantly  or  cunningly, 
seized  upon,  or  wrought  for,  what  is  not  his  by  Eternal's 
decree:  For  your  parchments,  if  they  deny  to  him  what 
is  his,  the  worse  for  them  and  for  you.  But  if  he  have 
simply  lived  and  grown,  waxing  in  might  and  struggling 


128  REAL  CAUSES 

upward,  self -fending,  as  each  as  to;  impelled  onward  and 
outward  by  the  forces  implanted  in  him,  and  in  stout 
modesty  claimed  his  due,  a  wider  arena,  a  greater  posses- 
sion ;  ever  rising  in  stature,  sought  fuller  expression ; — then, 
if  war  result,  as  it  almost  invariably  does,  on  all  manner  of 
scales,  not  he,  but  those  who  have  disallowed  his  right, 
sought  to  hamper  and  hinder,  are  the  causers  of  the  war. 
Wars  often  are  provoked  by  the  Will  of  a  Brute ;  are  then 
strictly  wars  of  Assertion.  And,  in  this  sense,  no  just  war 
ever  is  of  assertion ;  for,  if  just,  the  demands  should  have 
been  acceded  to  without  battle,  the  onus  on  whoso  refused 
them.  But  wars  are  at  least  as  often  counters  to  the  Voli- 
tion of  Man,  are  then  wars  of  Opposition;  informed  by  a 
spirit,  carried  on  with  a  virulence,  never  found  in  the 
others.  As  those  of  Assertion  have  their  root  in  some  form 
of  Lust,  so  these  in  some  form  of  Enmity;  the  perennial 
attempt  of  the  world  to  suppress  whatever  springs  direct 
from  the  great  heart  of  nature,  lives  not  by  its  formulas. 
That  is  what  I  mean  by  a  war  of  Opposition :  a  war  brought 
about  by  the  endeavours  of  men  to  forbid  another  his  right ; 
in  great  instance,  individual  or  national,  always  caused  by 
the  deep-seated  inveterate  hostility  of  men  to  what  is  nobler 
and  more  human  than  themselves,  certain  to  be  in  them  if 
the  loyalty  and  reverence  which  ought  to  be  is  not.  And 
I  say  that  this  war  is  one  of  that  genus ;  genus  which,  as- 
suredly has  many  species.  You  say,  it  is  not,  that  it  was 
caused  by  the  Will  of  a  Brute,  whose  lusts  were  long  evi- 
dent to  you  and  private  intentions  known.  Then  why  did 
you  not  straightforwardly  forbid  the  Brute  his  lusts ;  openly 
enter  into  express  alliance  with  France  for  defence  of  her 
if  attacked  without  provocation?  On  your  hypothesis, 
this  was  the  only  honest  course  for  you,  if  you  meddled  at 
all.  Instead  of  this,  you,  with  endless  painstaking,  so 
arranged  matters  that,  when  the  critical  moment  arrived, 


REAL  CAUSES  129 

you  could  say  to  Germany,  in  pretence  of  impartiality  and 
free-hand:  You  may  fight  France,  provided  you  conform 
to  all  our  conditions  of  handicap  to  you  and  swear  to 
inflict  no  incurable  cripplement  upon  her,  nor  gain  the 
least  good  to  yourself:  On  these  terms,  our  royal  equity 
to  you  and  magnanimous  protection  of  France  against 
your  greater  power  may  be  pleased  to  see  the  pair  of  you 
let  blood  and  mutually  exhausted  to  no  purpose :  No  inter- 
est of  ours  will  then  be  touched,  and  so  we  give  law  for  the 
combat  in  righteousness.  That  is  the  plain  English  of 
your  once  thought  glorious  henceforth  known  notorious 
White  Paper  'Case.'  A  thing  absolutely  infamous;  essen- 
tially a  Machiavellian  ruse,  and  if  consciously  so  perhaps 
the  cleaner.  You  sodden  wretches,  you  think  yourselves 
annulled  of  sin  because  you  hoped  the  critical  moment 
would  never  come,  sincerely  did  not  wish  it  to  come ;  you 
actually  imagine  that  this  converts  your  sordid  machina- 
tions into  a  heavenly  wisdom.  No  Constable  of  the  Al- 
mighty missioned  to  preserve  peace,  forbid  lust,  goes  to 
work  in  that  fashion,  if  many  a  Night  Poacher  does.  Very 
certainly  a  war  of  Opposition;  even  by  your  own  Osten- 
sible, visibly  arising  out  of  Enmity;  much  plotting  to  pre- 
vent freedom  of  act,  and  trap  laid  too,  well  baited  in 
secrecy.  You  hoped  the  mouse  would  not  enter ;  did  all  in 
precaution  merely;  do  really  believe  that  since  you  did 
not  want  the  mouse  to  enter  regions  where  the  trap  was 
situate  you  are  absolved  of  guilt  in  plot.  I  cannot  follow 
you  through  all  those  labyrinths;  they  are  too  intricate — 
involved  and  far  removed  from  light  of  day.  Perchance 
it  was  no  mouse,  and  bait  did  not  attract ;  but  trap  demol- 
ished by  paw  of  somewhat  mightier  lord  of  forest  and 
plain  than  you  had  reckoned  with. 

War  originating  in  Enmity  to  Man  without  an  if.    How 
far,  and,  if  you  like,  whether,  that  Enmity  was  plotting  for 


130  KEAL  CAUSES 

aggressive  act  it  is  not  possible  for  the  exoteric  to  say, 
not  probable  that  the  outer  public  will  know  in  our  life- 
time. Manifold  indications  point  to  the  existence  of  such 
plotting;  to  the  discovery  of  it  by  Germany;  and  to  the 
cognizance  of  it  by  Britain,  with  refusal  on  her  part  to  defi- 
nitely herself  engage  in  it,  but  with  grant  of  unlawful  cover 
to  those  who  were  engaged  in  it,  and  abundant  assurance 
to  them  that  they  should  not  lack  her  assistance  in  upshot 
if  they  took  the  right  course  to  secure  it.  But  speech  of 
these  things  is  for  a  later  date,  when  the  secrets  of  State- 
craft have  been  laid  open,  can  be  followed  in  their  true 
sequences ;  present  exclaims  at  real  or  imagined  revelations 
of  items  here  and  there  mere  street  noises  and  darkening 
of  counsel  by  words  without  wisdom.  Not  the  practices  of 
the  Enmity  are  our  concern,  but  the  Enmity  itself.  Op- 
position to  Germany,  innate  in  the  British,  the  Real  Cause 
of  their  going  to  war  with  that  nation:  Which  we  may 
divide  into  three:  British  Jealousy  of  Germany's  increas- 
ing power:  Trial  of  Strength  No.  1.  British  constitutional 
abhorrence  of  all  actual  Sovereignty,  existent  in  Germany 
alone  of  nations :  Democracy  versus  Autocracy  No.  2.  Brit- 
ish saturation  with  Make-believe,  faith  only  in  Transparent 
Humbug,  fearing  and  detesting  an  unequivocal  Manhood 
that  does  not  believe  truth  dangerous,  dares  by  what  it 
knows:  "Which  Manhood,  if  not  found  in  Germany,  where 
found?  Mendacity  versus  Veracity  No.  3.  But,  although 
sections  of  those  titles  will  occur,  it  is  not  my  intention  to 
divide  this,  the  main  chapter  of  this  book,  into  those  three 
sections  only,  but  also  into  others  subsidiary.  For  these 
elements  are  simultaneous,  completely  interpenetrate  each 
other,  and  run  through  all;  in  the  matter  before  us,  they 
have  such  a  co-existence,  absolute  interdependence,  that, 
though  so  far  as  separable  they  may  for  greater  clearness 


REAL  CAUSES  131 

be  spoken  of  separately,  they  are  properly  not  separable 
but  found  everywhere. 

The  Real  Causes  of  the  war  are  unfathomable,  indeed! 
Our  part  to  look  into  their  deep  and  tell  of  elements  cer- 
tainly there,  among  others,  visible  and  invisible  to  us.  And 
though  the  above  may  foreshadow  what  is  to  follow,  yet 
know  well  that  nothing  linear,  circumscribed,  can  be  meet 
for  subject  so  shoreless.  The  Real  Causes  of  any  war  are 
as  deep  as  Original  Sin,  said  Carlyle;  yet  permissible,  a 
duty  for  man  to  see  what  he  can,  and  tell  part.  So  long 
as  he  never  forget  that  he  sees  but  a  hand-breadth,  can 
only  declare  a  few  items  out  of  innumerable;  none  of 
which  are  fixed,  detached,  are  really  'items'  at  all,  but 
indissoluble  parts  of  an  infinite  and  fluent  whole  totally 
transcending  any  power  of  his  to  guess  the  meaning  of. 


TRIAL    OF    STRENGTH 

Nothing  that  the  British  have  articulated,  do  openly 
profess,  as  justification  for  their  war  on  Germany  does 
justify  it  at  all;  but  we  spoke  at  the  commencement  of 
instinctive  biases  possibly  just,  later  of  claims  valid  in 
Rivalry's  lists.  "Well,  perhaps  of  all  questions  the  British 
are  consciously  fighting  to  determine,  the  simple,  primitive, 
one  of:  Morality  apart,  which  of  us  two  is  the  stronger? 
is  the  most  respectable.  They  are  rather  shy  of  asserting 
this  issue  nakedly,  but  it  is  very  consciously  present  in 
them ;  properly  the  one  common  bond  to  which  all  opinions 
own  allegiance.  And,  were  it  genuine,  I  too  might  own 
allegiance;  should  not  be  shy  of  confessing  it  a  very  con- 
siderable,  perennial,   and   inevitable  element  in  disputes 


132  REAL  CAUSES 

between  Nations,  however  sorry  that  they  should  need  to 
draw  sword  to  decide  the  answer.  Among  the  majority 
of  the  more  sterling  of  the  actual  fighters,  I  should  suppose 
it  to  form  the  staple  of  resolution,  a  bottom  to  which  all 
thoughts  revert  for  the  silencing  of  doubt ;  or  even,  to  the 
sterling,  the  sole  ground  capable  of  yielding  solid  foothold ; 
the  rest  morass,  vacuity,  and  conflicting  shrieks  hysterical 
for  guiding  counsel.  The  valiant  and  truly  worthy  of  your 
Admirals,  Generals,  soldiers  and  sailors  of  every  rank, 
they  are  not  in  their  heart  of  hearts  fighting  for  your  White 
Paper  'Case,'  for  championship  of  a  Belgium  would  not 
reason,  for  protection  of  a  France  would  not  keep  out  of 
mischief,  to  give  opportunity  to  a  nescient  Eussia  to  wreak 
havoc  in  the  homes  of  their  own  light-loving  kindred,  to  sat- 
isfy a  "Westminster  Cockpit's  malignity  to  a  just  and  noble 
Chief  of  Men,  such  as  themselves  would  serve  in  grateful 
loyalty  were  his  like  but  king  of  themselves  instead  of 
their — foes  by  your  cozenage,  brothers  in  nature's  fact. 
No,  not  for  these  things  are  the  valiant  and  more  worthy  of 
them  fighting;  it  is  not  the  thought  of  these  things  that 
steels  their  hearts,  and  lends  force  to  their  arms :  They  are 
fighting  for  the  maintenance  of  Britain's  power,  for  their 
country  in  what  they  have  been  taught  was  her  day  of 
peril;  and,  in  their  better  consciousness,  I  say  deliberately 
in  their  better  consciousness,  for  practically  nothing  else 
but  this — and  every  stroke  they  so  deliver,  every  deed, 
military,  administrative,  what  you  will,  the  Empire  so 
achieves,  does  go  to  say  and  to  make  good :  Despite  of  all, 
there 's  yet  that  in  us  which  the  heavens  still  sanction.  Our 
guilt  may  be  terrible,  and  the  penalties  to  be  paid  for  it 
dire,  but  it  has  not  yet  merited  the  death  sentence  for  us, 
or  sunk  us  beyond  recovery.  Yea ;  and  this  we  will  main- 
tain even  against  him  we  have  most  foully  wronged,  should 
his  wrath  pass  measure  and  seek  our  destruction  as  some 


REAL  CAUSES  133 

among  us  have  sought  his.  Of  this  they  are  by  no  means 
conscious ;  it  is  a  dumb  instinctive  matter,  which  true  seer 
would  discern  and  lead  out  to  another  sort  of  victory  than 
any  you  are  seeking.  Many  a  soldier,  sailor,  citizen, 
battling  and  working  resolvedly  in  faith  that  it  is  for  his 
country 's  sake,  you  may  have ;  in  unguessed  fact,  battling 
and  working,  living  and  being,  to  prove  what  of  virtue 
there  yet  is  in  Britons,  silently  entering  this  on  the  credit 
side  for  Auditor  Fate  to  compare  with  the  debit  vice  when 
it  comes  to  decide  Bankrupt  or  Solvent?  Is  there  credit 
enough  to  pay  the  debt  and  yet  live;  or  have  your  sins 
brought  you  to  judgment?  God  knows,  not  I.  But  this 
I  know,  that  no  heroical  man  seeing  and  understanding  the 
springs  of  this  war  and  fighting  in  it  as  in  the  eye  of  the 
Eternal  is  in  your  ranks  at  all,  or  in  those  of  your  Allies. 
In  the  ranks  opposed  to  you  there  may  or  may  not  be  such, 
but  in  yours  there  cannot  be ;  not  in  army,  navy,  or  cabinet, 
neither  in  camp  nor  in  council  hall  is  there  one  such  possible 
to  you ;  if  there  be  any  that  might  have  become  such,  they 
have  either  turned  to  folly  or  are  in  cloud  and  half-hearted, 
reverting  merely  to  that  primitive  for  such  satisfaction 
as  they  can  find  in  it.  None  lucent  with  Intelligence  of 
the  Highest  cries  Forward !  to  you,  nor  could  cry  Forward ! 
to  you  in  this  enterprise;  but  Back!  Repent!  Confess  an 
infamy !  and,  where  this  is  true,  simplicity 's  faith  can  never 
long  continue  honest,  simplicity  remain  at  all.  Alas,  I 
fear  the  majority  of  your  actual  fighters,  too,  do  supple 
their  consciences  with  the  baseless  pleas  you  provide  for 
that  object;  though  none  sterling  could  swallow  them,  not 
even  taken  in  the  lump,  at  one  determined  gulp,  and  to 
have  done  with  questionable  matter:  It  is  not  the  practice 
of  the  sterling  to  silence  conscience,  or  accept  a  colour  for 
assurance. 
Britain  or  Germany  to  be  uppermost  ?    Must  one  or  both 


134  REAL  CAUSES 

go  down?  Can  either,  or  can  both,  survive,  to  lead  the 
Onward  March  of  Man,  singly,  or  in  harmony  as  Brethren 
of  One  Soul?  Ah  me!  Vast  Issues  here  indeed!  And 
sometimes  gleams  of  a  Divine  Hope  through  all  the  horror. 
You  are  not  conscious  of  those  more  ominous  and  more 
glorious,  only  of  the  Which  of  us  Two  is  the  stronger? 
Were  it  possible,  which  it  is  not,  to  separate  that  element 
from  others,  I  should  say  nothing  in  regard  to  it.  Had 
that  primitive  been  the  main  or  true  cause  of  the  war,  I 
should  have  remained  mute  for  the  Event ;  feeling  that,  once 
you  had  put  it  to  trial  by  force,  you  would  have  to  fight  it 
through,  since  you  could  not  or  would  not  do  better.  The 
question  is  so  huge,  enormous  in  sequel,  that  all  else  set 
forth  for  reason  of  war,  or  consciously  in  you,  shrinks  into 
nothing  when  put  beside  this ;  so  deep  and  so  far-reaching 
that  it  is  more  than  enough  to  modify  all  else,  it  is  enough 
to  sweep  all  else  into  comparative  insignificance.  The 
answer  is  determinable  by  the  totality  of  virtue  and  vice 
in  you  that  no  particular  good  to  your  credit  or  crime  you 
are  guilty  of  seems  worth  specifying.  And,  if  these  things 
are  true  of  the  mere  wrestle  to  overthrow  and  question 
Which  shall  be  uppermost?  much  more  are  they  true  of 
that  other  far  blesseder  issue :  Reunion  in  a  mutual  devoted- 
ness:  Whereof  I  do  not  yet  entirely  despair.  But  have, 
meantime,  to  enforce  again  upon  you  that  the  simple  Trial 
of  Strength,  uncombined  with  worthier  or  baser  elements, 
is  not  present  here ;  that  the  question  Which  of  us  Two  is 
the  stronger  ?  cannot  be  honestly  put  unless  the  conditions 
of  combat  are  fair:  The  answer  may  often  be  got  whatever 
the  conditions  of  combat,  and  sometimes  those  conditions 
are  alone  sufficient  to  give  the  answer. 

'Romans  have  gone  clean  out,  Britons  have  come  in':  It 
is  not  long  (in  such  reckonings)  since  this  was  written. 
And,  if  you  asked  me:  When,  in  World-history,  was  that 


REAL  CAUSES  135 

matter  of  Supremacy  ever  settled  without  battle  ?  I  should 
have  to  answer,  sadly:  Never,  that  I  am  aware  of.  Could 
also  answer :  Though  trials  of  strength  be  constantly  made 
wherein  both  wrestlers  have  high  merit  and  neither  is 
humanly  blameworthy  for  wrestling,  heaven  crowns  the 
victor  despite  cruel  deed,  still  pity  goes  to  the  vanquished, 
yet  I  know  of  no  instance  wherein  the  possessor  of  an  al- 
ready achieved  and  World  Supremacy  entered  war  from 
fear  of  competitor  and  did  not  in  sequel,  whether  successful 
against  the  rival  or  not,  lose  that  Supremacy, — certainly 
never  if  he  crushed  his  opponent  by  foreign  aid.  For,  though 
we  said,  Morality  apart,  Morality  is  not  apart;  it  is  most 
all-permeating,  however  latent.  And  for  all  mere  Trials 
of  Strength  the  heavens  will  crown  the  victor  in,  a  certain 
frankness  is  quite  essential.  There  your  thought  must  be 
to  crush  him  in  an  equal  force  (true  sword  to  sword),  not 
potch  at  him  some  way:  or  wrath  or  craft  may  get  him. 
If  your  honour  cease  to  have  in  it  that  emulation  it  was 
wont  to  have,  your  honour's  gone,  Supremacy  death- 
stricken. 

One  fully  admits  how  each  has  to  fight  and  prove  his 
title;  gives  large  allowance  to  Rivalry  among  the  unintel- 
ligent, knows  its  permanent  prevalence  as  element  in  almost 
all  mortal  strivings.  But  Rivalry  is  only  pardonable  to  the 
unintelligent,  and,  honest  rivalry  is  always  generous,  man- 
ful, however  short.  A  mournful  enough  sight  it  may  be  to 
see  two  brave  men  fighting  one  another  to  prove  which  is 
best  man  (often  one  slain,  the  other  wounded,  ere  such 
'proof  is  forthcoming),  instead  of  fighting  side  by  side 
against  the  sons  of  darkness;  so  quickly  and  much  more 
thoroughly  discovering  which  is  better  man,  in  grateful 
recognition  and  mutual  helpfulness.  But  the  sinking  into 
plot,  conspiracy,  yet  worse  the  taking  lead  in  mighty  com- 
bination to  suppress  Competitor,  is  itself  at  once  an  unmis- 


136  REAL  CAUSES 

takable  confession  of  inferiority,  always  ruinous  to  such 
Ringleader,  if  you  wait  long  enough.  No  lordly  Patron  of 
the  Less,  lending  aid  through  envy  and  to  get  it,  but  may 
indeed  sun  himself  superior  in  their  ready  adulation;  yet 
forfeits  man's  esteem  the  while,  and  seldom  is  it  that  he 
ever  more  again  commands  respect.  Yes,  Sirs,  one  fully 
admits  the  common  need  of  each  to  fight  for  his  right ;  hon- 
est rivalry  an  earthly  ground  to  stand  on,  if  little  celestial. 
But  shall  Welcome  of  Peer  never  be  possible,  then?  Al- 
ways, when  the  New  Power  rises  toward  equality  with  a 
Prior-existent,  threatens  to  become  the  greater,  the  two 
must  go  to  war  and  one  destroy  the  other.  I  am  sorry 
to  hear  you  say  so :  You  have  expressed  that  conviction  in 
you  more  conclusively  than  words  could.  I  do  not  believe 
it  is  forever  bound  to  be  so,  however  well  I  may  know 
it  to  be  usual.  It  may  be  that  it  was  and  remains  beyond 
you  to  do  otherwise;  but  it  is  not  beyond  man,  and  much 
otherwise  was  offered  to,  sought  of,  you  in  the  present 
instance.  You  had  no  eye  for  it;  pride-blinded  and  jealous, 
fearful,  you  not  merely  in  arrogance  sniffed  at  the  priceless, 
but  created  for  your  solace,  his  bane,  a  malignant  carica- 
ture of  the  Peer,  heaped  every  term  of  ignominy  upon  him. 
Nay,  then,  is  it  too  plain  'tis  you  that  are  not  his  Peer. 
And  so  is  it  ever:  The  New  does  not  seek  the  Trial;  but 
the  Old,  by  repeated  thwart,  petty  annoyance,  a  long 
continued  course  of  conduct  informed  by  Jealousy,  forces 
it  sooner  or  later.  Neither  does  that  mean  passion  ever 
trust  to  fair  trial,  as  Britain  conspicuously  has  not  here. 
Whatever  the  War's  result,  British  Statesmen,  with  too 
big  a  following  in  every  part  of  the  Empire,  have  already 
trumpeted  to  the  whole  earth  they  did  not  and  do  not 
reckon  Britain  Germany's  match.  There  is  only  one  way 
Britain  could  prove  herself  belied  in  this :  And  a  madman 's 
dream  to  think  she  will  seek  it  ?    I  am  afraid  so. 


REAL  CAUSES  137 

That  Germany's  power  has  been  steadily  increasing  for 
generations  past,  has  in  the  last  few  generations  increased 
enormously,  is  a  fact  undeniable  as  the  sun  at  noonday. 
And  shall  we  say  something  similar?  Perhaps  not  yet  at 
full  meridian  glory,  still  ascending  and,  though  shrouded 
in  storm  cloud  awhile,  to  shine  out  anew  with  a  long 
course  yet  to  run,  giving  grace  to  the  earth,  strength  to 
the  children  of  men.  Likewise  is  it  a  fact  undeniable 
as — as  what?  Must  I  say  as  the  murk  of  mid-night  and 
the  laugh  of  hyenas?  that  if  Britain  could  not  or  would 
not  give  Germany  the  peer's  welcome,  fair  soul  to  soul, 
rejoicing  in  a  Man  and  thanking  God  for  fellow  labourer, 
then  War  between  the  two  was  inevitable.  The  war  has 
come.  You  say  you  went  into  it  because  of  meditated 
aggression  on  the  part  of  Germany.  I  say,  say  without  any 
shadow  of  Dubiety,  in  as  thorough  a  conviction,  as  complete 
a  Certainty  as  man  can  have,  that  you  went  into  it,  had 
subtly  provoked  or  countenanced  it,  from  Jealousy  of  Ger- 
many 's  power,  and  in  a  determination  to  forbid  any  further 
increase  to  that  power.  For  the  things  we  have  next  to 
touch  on,  successively  or  simultaneously,  in  relation  to  this 
Trial  of  Strength  element,  are:  The  fact  of  Germany's 
increased  power;  how  this  has  come  by  equitable  Expan- 
sion, true  Growth,  not  by  Aggression.  What  ground  there 
is  to  believe  her  temper  now  aggressive.  The  British  charge 
that  it  is  so:  a  venomous  accusation,  springing  from  jeal- 
ousy. Mutual  humour  of  the  two  Nations  to  each  other. 
The  Inevitability  of  the  War :  why  or  how  inevitable,  if  so. 
Take  the  Fact  of  Increase  first;  and  gain  cheerfulness  by 
a  moment  spent  in  daylight,  if  plunge  in  dusk  we  must. 

Said  Goethe,  or  quoted  he:  The  dear  old  Holy  Eomish 
Reich,  how  does  it  hold  together?  It  is  a  reflection  of  im- 
mense significance  to  me  that  Germany  is  the  only  Euro- 
pean Nation  which  has  sprung  fresh  in  modern  times;  not 


138  REAL  CAUSES 

merely  lasted  out  of  mediaeval,  or  broken  loose  in  revolu- 
tionary earthquakes,  but,  still  rooting  in  the  divine  of  the 
past,  has  survived  the  earthquakes  without  loss  of  that  and 
sprung  fresh  in  a  vitality  of  To-day.    In  long  past  times 
Deutschland  was  a  glorious  unity  and  Germany  verily  a 
Nation.    Thereafter  fell  internecine ;  went  mouldering  and 
crumbling  down;  became  a  'Wigged  Mendacity,'  manhood 
in  danger  of  perishing,  poisoned  by  effluvias  from  the  dead 
unburied;  yet  never,  as  a  people,  abandoned  sobriety,  be- 
came infected  with  any  active  malignancy,  nor  rejected 
the  Godlike,  however  terribly  in  need  of  it.     And  before 
the  Reich 's  decadence  arrived  at  consummation  little  Prus- 
sia proved  she  had  kept  true,  was  a  Veracity  with  no  more 
Wig  than  suited  head,  could  hold  her  own  against  the 
world;  did  so  become  the  saviour  of  Germany  at  large: 
"Which,  on  signal  of  new  common  danger,  most  wanton, 
coalesced  with  her,  thus  forming  present  Germany;  once 
more   a  Mighty  Power  based  not  on  the   rotten  extinct 
nor  on  glass-cased  preservations  of  Humbug  kowtowed  to 
for  form  and  believed  saving  arks  once  rendered  impotent 
transparent,  neither  on  atheistic  anarchy  nor  its  cherished 
faiths,  but  on  solid  earth  not  shut  to  heaven,  and  with 
beliefs  which  are  true,  capable  of  infinite  expansion,  ascen- 
sion.   It  is  a  thing  of  immense  moment  this  that  Germany 
has  sprung  in  a  fresh  Vitality  of  To-day ;  and  the  political 
power,    coherency,   is   only    the   outcome   of   a   far   more 
precious  spiritual,   which   was  by  no   means    confined  to 
Prussia  but  spread  through  all  the  states.    In  the  whole  of 
this  there  was  no  Aggression.     Prussia's  own  growth  was 
healthy   expansion;   she  seized  but  what  was  her   right, 
acquired  but  what  was  fairly  and  beneficently  hers  in  the 
circumstances;  she  did  not  conquer,  subject,  or  cozen  the 
other  States :  That  union  was  one  of  true  brotherhood ;  an 
open,  fortunate,  most  happy  forming  into  a  confessed  Polit- 


REAL  CAUSES  139 

ical  Unity  what  was  already  one  in  soul.  And  since  this 
grateful  Reunion,  spontaneous  flowing  into  one,  so  long  the 
hope  and  almost  the  despair  of  every  noble  German,  there 
has  been  no  Aggression.  A  vast  accumulation  of  force  si- 
lently going  on  very  probably;  force  needing  outlet,  not 
seeking  it  by  unjust  channels,  and  for  you,  if  you  took 
upon  yourselves  to  incessantly  forbid  the  outlet,  saying, 
as  if  God  of  this  world,  Hitherto  and  no  further, — !  I 
know  of  no  national  records  cleaner  of  wrongful  aggres- 
sions, unjust  encroachments  than  Germany's.  If  she  be  en- 
tirely guiltless  there,  she  is  indeed  the  Christ  of  Nations.  Of 
those  now  leagued  against  her,  how  many  not  hundredfold 
the  guiltier?  Up  to  the  present,  Germany  has  eminently 
grown  by  natural  development,  fair  and  free  expansion, 
the  reward  of  heaven  for  Desert.  Great  has  been  her  in- 
crease, and  that  Increase  has  been  blessed :  a  thing  for  every 
just  man  to  rejoice  in ;  none  brave,  and  himself  growing  in 
Omnipotence-favour,  to  fear;  knaves  and  ill- workers  alone 
to  tremble  at,  seek  to  cut  back  or  hinder  from  further. 

That  Germany  has  not  been  an  aggressive,  an  unjustly 
grasping  or  offensively  militant  nation  till  now,  is  a  fact 
definitely  ascertainable ;  and  no  ground  for  belief  that  she 
now  is  so  has  ever  come  before  my  notice ;  neither  is  it  for 
an  instant  credible  to  me  that  any  war  by  Germany  not 
felt  by  him  to  be  inevitable,  necessary  for  his  country's 
honour,  safety,  or  well-being,  would  ever  have  been  sanc- 
tioned by  her  present  Kaiser.  If  you  say  of  a  man  one  has 
known  to  be  hitherto  of  a  just  and  constant  soul  that  he 
has  turned  into  diabolical  workings,  nobody  can,  on  the 
moment,  prove  you  lie.  The  instinct  of  Man  may,  certainly, 
be  very  prompt  to  give  you  the  lie,  should  he  deem  your 
scurrilous  insinuations  worthy  of  notice.  What  then  if 
you  have  always  said  it?  If  you  say  of  a  nation,  this 
subtle  leopard  has  changed  its  spots;  it  is  no  longer  the 


140  REAL  CAUSES 

same  at  all;  a  clique  of  evil-minded  persons  are  riding  it. 
Why  that  last  is  unhappily  a  far  from  impossible  predica- 
ment. But  it  is  for  you  who  make  the  assertion  to  bring 
the  proof,  and  it  will  require  to  be  very  satisfying — which, 
surely,  in  a  way,  it  is.  If  you  can  do  nothing  save  charge 
malign  intention,  who  is  going  to  listen  to  you  ?  Too  many, 
yet  sum  prefaced  with  the  minus  sign.  But,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  you  do  not  in  the  least  say  that  Germany  has 
changed:  Your  argument  remains  that  she  still  is  what 
she  never  was.  Had  the  assertion  of  present  aggressive 
temper  been  made  by  men  full  of  a  loving  recognition  of 
the  unaggressive  Germany  of  hitherto,  stable  in  true  in- 
sight into  German  character,  equal  esteem  and  honour  of  it ; 
sorrowfully,  as  in  discernment  of  new  fact ; — the  assertion 
would  have  been  worthy  of  most  serious  attention,  earnest 
enquiry  into  its  truth:  We  have  heard  nothing  distantly 
resembling  this.  What  we  have  heard  is  bitter  imputation 
of  ill  motive,  to  be  believed  despite  of  all  assurance  and  in 
the  teeth  of  evidence ;  made  by  men  devoid  of  discernment 
of  facts  new  or  ancient ;  mere  repetitions  of  old  imputations 
persistently  accredited  by  them  though  long  proved  false, 
and  fancy's  buildings  plucking  on  their  hateful  lives:  No 
particle  of  which  can  offer  smallest  ground  for  belief  in 
aggressive  temper  in  Germany  at  present  one  jot  more 
than  in  the  past;  significant,  fatally  significant,  of  the 
maligners  alone,  not  of  the  Man  and  Nation  maligned. 

Verily,  no  evidence  that  Germany  had  aggressive  inten- 
tion in  this  war  has  been  forthcoming.  Whether  she  in  fact 
did  or  did  not  have  it,  the  British  allegations  that  she  had 
it  are  of  no  validity  for  proof  that  she  had  it,  and  are 
sweeping  proof  of  the  character  and  motives  of  the  allegers. 
I  repeat:  No  just  man,  convinced  of  evil  in  another,  ever 
asserted  the  existence  of  that  evil  in  manner  remotely  re- 
sembling current  British  defamation  of  Germany,  or  took 


REAL  CAUSES  141 

such  methods  of  counteracting  evil  as  the  British  have 
taken  against  Germany.  This  attempt  to  justify  the  join- 
ing in  an  extraneous  war  by  a  plea  of  future  aggression 
meditated  is  itself  curious,  perhaps  unparalleled ;  palpably 
some  part  of  the  conjugation  of  your  Ally's  notorious  vertf 
Suspect,  and  itself  highly  suspect.  If  we  may  not  call  it 
a  barefaced  falsity, — for  I  have  never  known  you  tell  a 
naked  lie,  any  more  than  a  simple  truth.  Taking  much 
pride  indeed  in  things  easily  seen  through,  yet  face  invar- 
iably veiled.  Apparently  in  some  thought  that,  should  you 
show  your  countenance  uncovered,  its  god's  brightness 
would  be  unbearable  to  mortal  eyes?  No  Medusa's  head 
turn  hearts  to  stone — and  possibly  to  steel?  Nor  foul 
Duessa  stript  to  shame  cause  every  eye  to  turn  away,  pained 
with  unbearable  of  another  kind?  "Why,  then,  one  of  the 
flimsiest  pretexts  ever  set  up ;  transparent  veils  very  clearly 
revealing  true  motive  a  malignant  Jealousy  glad  to  seize 
opportunity,  however  mean,  to  damage  a  dreaded  rival. 
Most  utterly  is  that  plea,  are  all  your  pleas,  mere  charges 
unsupported ;  attributions  of  evil  purpose,  I  cannot  say  so 
much  made  for  private  ends,  the  lesser  crime,  as  believed  in 
damnation  of  soul.  Those  Creatures  of  the  Mob  called 
British  Statesmen  were  not,  as  secret  knaves  had  been,  hard 
put  to  it  to  make  up  their  'Case';  they  freely  offered  as 
their  'Case'  what  their  workings  had  brought,  confident  of 
the  acceptance  it  instantly  met ;  though  to  each  earnest  man 
visibly  a  thing  of  tinsel,  a  most  shocking  horror,  affirming 
much  past  deed  of  darkness  as  well  as  calling  on  the  nation 
for  a  further  capital.  A  'Case'  which  neither  came  nor 
found  acceptance  by  any  complexion  of  facts,  stood  in  the 
least  contact  with  facts.  A  'Case'  which  came  and  found 
acceptance  by  humour  long  prevalent  in  the  British,  habit- 
ual there  for  generations  past. 

Here,  I  must  anew  emphasise  how  completely  the  current 


142  REAL  CAUSES 

exclaim  at  Germany,  the  Combination  against  her,  is  a 
repetition  of  the  earlier.  Ponder  the  circumstance,  you 
may  marvel  whence  the  British  charges  came  from,  how 
they  were  born.  The  answer  is,  they  were  not  born  but 
now;  these  whelps  of  hell-gate  now  aravening  on  earth 
were  littered  lang  syne ;  they  have  not  even  grown  consid- 
erably; in  act,  in  bay  and  physiognomy  these  are  just  the 
self-same  dogs  of  old,  so  long  familiar,  intimately  known. 
Gaze  into  the  daylight  realm  of  Fact,  you  stand  amazed, 
in  vain  enquiring  How?  Why?  Whence?  Glance  into 
the  record  kept  of  foul  Imagination's  Cavern  underground, 
and  your  search  is  swiftly  satisfied  thence,  therefore,  so. 
Compare  that  ugly  brood,  all  teeming  there,  with  the  troop 
abroad  this  hour!  Reckon  them  over  one  by  one,  they'll 
answer  to  the  Roll-Call  in  your  hand.  Ah,  sirs,  if  nothing 
in  Germany's  deed  gave  ground  for  your  rabid  outburst, 
onslaught  vindictive,  malicious  as  dastard,  we  can  be  in  no 
doubt  whence  that  outburst,  onslaught,  came  from.  Turn 
to  Carlyle's  'History  of  Frederick  the  Great'  and  you 
may  find  the  whole  of  your  present  iniquitous  obsession  told 
over  before.  I  could  with  ease  fill  pages  here  with  manifold 
excerpts  from  that  grand  Bible;  wherein  scarcely  a  word 
would  need  change  to  leave  them  in  their  royalty  as  accu- 
rately descriptive  of  German,  Anti-German,  deeds  temper, 
spirit,  and  even  entanglement  of  situation,  To-day  as  of 
Yesterday.  Strangest  of  all  is  that  last,  the  similarity  of 
situation.  Look  at  outward  European  conditions,  clash 
of  interests,  solid  ground  for  armed  debate,  you  can  see 
nothing  out  of  which  this  War  in  the  West  could  have 
arisen.  Turn  to  that  living  Record  of  the  Past  and  you 
find  every  feature  forestalled ;  know  that  the  war  had 
origin  in  Anti-German  humour,  Elemental  Repugnance. 
It  is  not  merely  a  family  likeness,  an  occasional  resem- 
blance, a  trait  or  two  here  and  there,  that  exists  between 


REAL  CAUSES  143 

the  present  outburst  and  the  past;  the  present  outburst  is 
identically  the  same  old  song  to  the  same  old  tune  with 
hardly  a  variation.  Everything  now  alleged  of  the  German, 
everything  imputed  to  him,  was  alleged  and  imputed  before 
without  the  slightest  foundation  in  fact ;  the  furor  of  Man- 
kind against  him  was  fully  as  high,  unanimous;  men's 
concurrence  in  defamation  of  him,  their  determination  to 
cut  him  down,  as  overwhelming,  venomous  in  would-be 
righteousness:  And  their  attempts  upon  him  were  void  of 
justice,  their  clamours  at  him  baseless;  had  no  basis  save 
their  own  Jealousies,  Greeds,  and  deadly  Enmity  in 
common.  That  Enmity  has  not  sought  Lethe's  healing 
stream,  has  lain  asteep  in  Phlegethon  for  quicken  of  spent 
vigour,  poured  Cocytus  again  on  earth,  and  is  Real  Cause 
of  War  in  the  West  to-day — with  the  East  it  is  different. 
Moreover,  it  is  chiefly  Britain  that  is  guilty  of  this  resur- 
rection of  the  known  damned,  despite,  perhaps  to  spite, 
The  Briton  who  exorcised  the  Brood  of  Hell  for  her,  and 
left  her  free,  in  unsealed  vision,  opened  soul,  to  grasp  the 
Brother's  hand.  No  use  to  cry:  The  War  was  there  before 
she  entered  it!  Without  her  cover,  neither  France  nor 
Russia  had  mined  by  half  so  well;  without  the  practical 
certainty  of  her  armed  support,  neither  had  forced  conclu- 
sion: certainly  not  France.  The  British  Lion  owns  no 
harness;  and  Island  Ape  has  Parliament  to  reckon  with, 
dare  not  seal  to  such  a  bond.  Yet  cunning  may  be  matched 
with  further  cunning;  and,  unless  that  Wily  Foe  consent 
to  fight  you  on  impossible  terms — !  You  know  we're 
staunch.  For  thus  shall  our  consciences  be  clean,  our 
People  willing  in  the  day  of  our  Power —  Methinks  it  was 
something  Ape  that  rode  more  fox  than  lion. 

Yes,  Britain  owes  her  involution  in  this  war  to  her  own 
inveterate  humour  toward  Germany;  and,  in  view  of  it, 
one  can  be  at  no  loss  to  know  whence  the  war  sprung, 


144  EEAL  CAUSES 

Like  all  that  really  takes  possession  of  man's  soul,  to  drive 
him  along  reckless  of  cost,  it  is  altogether  elemental;  de- 
pends on  no  mundane  interest  but  emanates  from  the 
primary  passions  of  man,  his  spontaneous  Affinities,  Re- 
pugnances. Among  the  namable,  it  is  the  Chief  Cause  of 
the  War.  The  sources  of  it  run  very  deep ;  and  you  cannot 
know  the  Present  without  the  Past.  Just  now  we  are  more 
or  less  restricted  to  what  in  it  tends  to  evoke  Trial  of 
Strength; — not  necessarily  true  sword  to  sword,  rather 
ready  for  any  potch  behind  the  scenes  and  trust  that  virtu- 
ous face  is  such  none  dare  impeach,  or  doubt  of  righteous- 
ness. But,  if  the  fair  and  equal  Foe  is  not  now  for  you,  this 
came  by  failure  in  the  fair  and  equal  Friend  demanded, 
yea,  besought.  Can  you  no  more  meet  a  man  then  ?  Have 
pleasure  in  flatterers,  toadies  to  your  Greatness ;  in  Tribes 
of  the  Less  alone  find  comfortable  company  ?  You  are  Sole 
Lord;  if  suave  in  gracious  condescension,  know  no  Equal? 
At  first,  perchance,  it  was  not  that  your  arrogance  could 
not  brook  one,  but  that  you  nowhere  found  one:  When 
whispered  of,  you  sniffed  incredulous;  then  hardened  in 
indifference;  have  run  the  course;  and  sunk,  at  last,  to 
vicious  animus,  still  trying  to  lord  it  superior  honest  yet 
betraying  envy's  malice  and  all  the  hideous  workings  in- 
separable. Do  I  need  to  remind  you  how  common  a  con- 
summation this  is ;  how  many  times  the  world  has  seen  it — 
and  its  fate  ? 

I  could  have  much  to  say  of  British  humour  toward 
Germany,  perhaps  still  more  of  German  toward  Britain; 
and,  in  the  few  words  here  permissible,  shall  refer  not  to 
the  tempers  of  war-time  or  aught  provoked  by  political 
opposition,  but  to  the  constant  attitudes  of  each  to  other  in 
times  of  peace;  the  deeper  roots  of  these,  their  leading 
characteristics.  Go  back  a  bit,  the  British  humour  toward 
Germany  was,  in  the  main,  one  of  lofty  indifference  with- 


REAL  CAUSES  145 

out  hostility.  Lofty  indifference  is  no  good  attitude  for 
one  nation  to  have  toward  another,  and  I  never  knew  it 
unaccentuated  by  attempt  at  contempt;  but,  at  first,  it 
would  have  quite  pooh-poohed  the  least  suggestion  of  an- 
imosity, and  in  a  native  courtesy  have  instantly  checked 
all  tone  of  slight  if  you  breathed  a  commendation.  Readily 
indulgent  to  your  enthusiasm:  Oh,  yes,  he  may  be  a  very 
good  fellow;  no  doubt  he  is,  of  course  he  is.  And,  of 
course,  your  courtesy  would  not  offend  by  too  much  insist- 
ence on  matter  so  evidently  interesting  to  one  party  only. 
No  desire  to  learn  for  himself  what  the  other  was  could  be 
awakened  in  him.  By  all  means,  let  who  will  amuse  himself 
in  such  a  quest;  to  me  most  foisonless:  "Who  cares?  And 
away  from  importunity,  relapsed  from  possibility's  allow- 
ance into  confirmed  prejudgment  of  the  other's  nothing- 
ness and  dullard  quality.  This,  I  reckon,  is  true  picture 
of  British  national  attitude  toward  the  German  at  the 
beginning  of  last  century.  Carlyle's,  indeed,  then  formed 
a  total  exception,  surpassing,  in  this  relation,  anything  in 
the  German,  and  went  on  increasing  while  his  life  lasted; 
but  it  stood  alone  and  the  national  answer  to  it  was  pretty 
much  as  above, — at  first,  till  the  indulgence  given  thought 
his  insistence  lacking  in  courtesy.  Alas,  the  nation  has  not 
made  his  wisdom  its,  as  the  Germans  have  the  wisdom  of 
their  God's  messengers.  Nathless,  one  doubts  not  there 
are  numbers  of  the  British  who  have,  each  according  to 
ability.  Would  they  could  show  themselves  this  hour  in 
united  number  sufficient !  But  it  was  never,  in  the  nature 
of  things,  possible  that  that  earlier  humour  of  mere  Indif- 
ference should  continue.  The  Peer  had  made  his  appear- 
ance, and,  in  the  neglect  of  welcome,  passive  disallowance 
was  bound  to  turn  to  active;  much  more  after  convincing 
declaration,  in  your  midst,  of  his  existence  and  true  quality. 
Carelessness  to  learn  what  he  was,  then,  inevitably  gave 


146  REAL  CAUSES 

place  to  an  obstinate  refusal  to  learn  what  he  was,  to  admit 
what  he  was,  and  an  ever-increasing  tendency  to  belie  and 
malign  him,  till  in  our  young  generation  it  had  become  a 
rarity  to  hear  the  word  German  pronounced  without  some 
term  or  intonation  betokening  contumely,  vulgar  contempt : 
To  the  British  of  these  latter  decades,  the  German  has 
seemed  made  but  to  breathe  upon. 

Glance,  similarly,  over  the  stages  of  German  humour  to 
Britain:  You  find  in  the  earlier  a  loyal  admiration,  rec- 
ognition, with  an  open  confession  of  superiority  in  the 
Briton  which  has  often  made  me  tremble,  knowing  how  in 
this  world  of  God's  making  the  sceptre  passes  to  Modesty, 
and  worth  diffident  shall  step  forth  in  majesty  assured. 
Friedrich,  wishing  to  eulogise  a  character  of  Voltaire's 
creation,  can  find  no  higher  praise  than  'one  feels  he  is 
either  a  Roman  or  an  Englishman. '  Royal  Goethe,  German 
to  the  bone  and  devout  in  noblest  patriotism,  deliberately 
makes  his  Wilhelm  Meister  say:  'You  do  me  too  much 
honour  when  you  take  me  for  an  Englishman,  I  am  but  a 
German.'  Conceive  like  words  to  these  from  any  British 
king  or  writer !  You  cannot :  The  same  very  easily,  I  fear. 
In  Richter,  too,  what  a  loving  appreciation  of  Britain! 
patient  in  hope  of  reciprocity,  and  without  shadow  of 
blame  that  as  yet  it  was  not.  We  can  wait;  we  can  do 
without  it;  we  will  not  wrong  the  Briton  with  a  thought 
that  given  time  he'll  fail  to  meet  us.  A  genuine  intimacy 
one-sided;  a  sportful,  trustful  fullness  of  knowledge  of 
the  other,  with  a  just  self-consciousness  of  being  his  Mate, 
together  with  a  clear  perception  that  the  other  as  yet  knew 
not  him;  a  contented  waiting  till  he  should,  and  satisfac- 
tion enough  meantime  in  self-worth  giving  all  other  worth 
its  due;  wonderful  to  see.  Very  remarkable  phenomena! 
The  Germans  of  that  day  knew  the  British  through  and 
through  in  a  manner,  though  the  Britons  knew  not  them. 


REAL  CAUSES  147 

They  gratefully  acknowledged  vast  debt  to  British  Genius ; 
reverently  drew  near  to  that  Genius  and  made  it  their 
study;  generously  emulated  it;  possessed  it  in  soul,  and 
made  what  in  it  was  suitable  for  them  their  own  also.  0; 
Britons,  if  this  had  met  the  reception  from  you  that  it 
merited  from  you — !  But,  meeting  the  reception  it  did, 
could  it  either  continue?  Not  possibly.  No;  not  in  the 
case  of  some  wisest,  noblest,  most  long-suffering  man  bom 
German  could  it  have  continued.  Such  had  still  prayed 
and  hoped,  continued  to  cherish  the  noble  of  past  and 
contemporary  Britain,  but  seeing  the  course  she  was  pur- 
suing in  and  for  herself  could  have  no  longer  pointed  to 
her  for  moral  inspiration,  rather  it  may  be  warned  his 
people  against  her  as  Sink  of  Mendacity;  and  in  the  ever- 
growing persistent  British  humour  to  his  country  had  seen 
grave  menace,  calling  on  him  to  prepare  all  German  sons 
of  men  for  battle,  if  it  could  not  be  avoided:  Since  thus 
with  a  supreme  of  men  born  German,  a  second  Goethe  or 
Carlyle,  how  with  others?  Do  you  think  your  cause  is 
bettered  because  the  Germans  have  not  all  been  demigods; 
and  earthly  Host  of  the  Just  numbered  many  a  cur  foaming 
at  lip?  Man's  strength  is  surely  sorely  weakened  by  all 
infirmity;  but  the  Justice  of  his  Cause  is  not  reversed 
thereby,  not  even  if  the  infirmity  bring  him  to  the  dust. 

Before  touching  expressly  on  the  Inevitability  of  War 
between  Britain  and  Germany,  let  me  add,  in  reference  to 
it  and  the  last  spoken,  that  phenomena  very  similar  to  what 
the  mutual  humours  of  the  two  nations  have  manifested 
are  also  to  be  found  in  the  mutual  relations  of  that  living 
individual  the  present  German  Kaiser  and  his  contem- 
porary (male)  British  Sovereigns,  Parliaments,  and  People. 
Never  did  Chief  of  one  state  turn  franker  face  to  another 
than  he  to  Britain.  Throughout  his  reign  that  man  has 
done  all  that  he  in  honour  and  dignity  could  do  for  peace 


148  REAL  CAUSES 

and  good  understanding  between  his  country  and  ours. 
Met  at  every  turn  by  indifference,  slight,  and  snub;  the 
antipathy  of  a  Crowned  Nothing  for  a  strong  personality 
in  royal  seat ;  the  insolent  opprobriums  of  Hustings  Senate 
raging  at  Monarch  not  amenable  to  their  dictation ;  and  to 
the  People  chosen  aim  of  every  foul  projectile,  mark  of 
obscenity's  jest.  Met  by  curses,  taunts  and  mock;  basest 
slanders,  lowest  insolence  in  every  kind;  the  whole  dis- 
graceful riot  of  vulgarest  impudence  flaunting  its  naked- 
ness in  the  face  of  Man;  joined  in  by  every  rank  from 
King  to  Pleb,  one  gutter  breed  that  revels  in  profane  in- 
decency, as  fairest  answer  it  can  give  to  royal  grace  and 
generous  favour.  Enough  was  here  alone  to  make  him 
look  to  his  ships  and  to  his  men :  Me  they  may  traduce,  if 
so  they  please.  But  each  true  son,  stepping  sternly  into 
rank :  Who  mocks  our  Father  bears  no  respect  to  us !  His 
dirty  offers,  thought  to  be  sweetened  so,  we  cast  back  in 
his  teeth.  The  dog  unspeakable!  And  Father  likewise 
fearing  all  efforts  for  peace  must  fail.  How  long  he 
wrought  and  with  what  width  of  vision,  faith  in  Britons  of 
another  quality  than  go  to  make  the  Roaring  Rabble,  it 
may  be  our  cue  to  recur  to  when  we  come  to  speak  specially 
of  him.  If,  when  these  proved  unavailing,  unresponsive, 
too  few,  too  impotent  or  too  unstable,  Britain  broke  all 
faith  and  Rabble  charged  in  full  pack  on  the  throat  of  him 
and  his,  iron  entered  many  a  German  heart,  and  souls  grew 
grim  at  such  reply  to  offered  brotherhood,  were  it  any 
wonder?  For  him  and  his  nation,  broadly,  I  have  no  fear 
of  any  permanent  perversion  so,  but  could  never  have  the 
face  to  say  Hold!  to  their  just  wrath's  most  terrible 
scourge. 

Germany  wished  peace  with  Briain.  That  in  the  present 
instance  she  did  is  not  denied.  Britain  only  took  the  flimsy 
pretext  she  did  for  entering  the  war  on  the  further  pre- 


REAL  CAUSES  149 

tence  that  Germany  had  malign  intentions  upon  her  here- 
after: Things  beneath  further  comment.  But  Germany- 
wished  peace  with  Britain  permanently,  if  equitably  main- 
tainable; though  her  Thinkers,  her  Statesmen,  and  her 
Kaiser,  unless  exceedingly  blind,  must  have  been  growing 
continually  more  and  more  aware  how  small  were  the 
chances  of  this ;  yet  still  hoping  against  hope.  Where  the 
issues  are  such  as  were  between  Britain  and  Germany,  it 
is  customary  for  the  party  which  is  in  the  wrong  and 
playing  false,  to  try  to  preclude  from  the  one  which  is  in  the 
right  and  standing  true,  any  fair  hearing  of  his  case ;  not 
exactly  by  anticipating  it,  but  by  setting  up  for  himself  a 
simulacrum  of  it :  So  here,  the  Britons  say  it  was  they  who 
wished  peace,  etc. :  We  have  seen  with  what  degree  of  sin- 
cerity. Sincerity  of  wish  for  peace,  etc. :  totally  incompat- 
ible with  British  deeds,  but  perfectly  compatible  with  Ger- 
man. The  one  wished  peace  as  between  equal  brothers ;  the 
other  was  determined  not  to  grant  it  unless  all  those  cosy 
arrangements  he  had  privately  made  were  submitted  to; 
willing  enough  for  peace  if  they  were,  I  daresay,  pitifully 
zealous  they  should  be  submitted  to,  and  wringing  his 
hands  distractedly  when  he  saw  those  pretty  plans  of  his 
resulting  in — what  they  were  bound  to  result  in.  Germany 
did  ask  no  more  than  her  'place  in  the  sun,'  and  Britain 
rejoined:  What  dog-hutch  the  gods  will  grant  you  I  reck 
not  and  care  not,  for  in  this  of  my  providing  shall  you 
house.  Your  place  in  the  sun,  0  Germany  ?  That  stretches 
far,  does  it  not?  It  is,  it  should  be,  the  deepest  soul's 
longing  of  man  to  reach  his  fullest  development,  stand 
forth  free  in  his  Manhood's  right  and  stature  unimpaired, 
be  all  that  it  lies  in  him  to  be;  his  highest,  most  god- 
commanded,  duty  to  endeavour  this  and  achieve  thereof 
what  he  can.  Yet,  also,  highly  incumbent  on  him  to  know 
that  what  arena  his  strength  shall  be  given  is  decided  by 


150  REAL  CAUSES 

another  than  him,  and  be  content  to  toil  for  good  in  narrow 
field.  Perhaps  there  is  in  this  war  some  further  lesson  of 
that  sort  for  you  as  for  all  of  us,  though  I  blame  you  never 
a  deel  for  bringing  your  mailed  fist  down  on  the  hutch 
of  Britain's  prescribing,  so  your  devout  heart  resent  none 
of  the  Maker's  ordaining. 

If  war  between  Britain  and  Germany  was  Inevitable, 
then  it  was  the  former's  humour  which  made  it  so,  and 
if  further  seal  to  this  were  needed  you  had  the  final  in  the 
fact  that  it  was  Britain  which  voluntarily  made  war  on 
Germany,  spurning  all  assurance  and  generous  offer.  War 
certainly  was  inevitable  unless  the  British  humour  changed 
for  better.  To  me,  from  the  time  I  came  to  a  man's 
understanding  of  things,  this  was  plain.  Hope  still  existed ; 
long  fading,  I  suppose  we  may  say  it  vanished  what  day 
that  Sower  of  Dragon's  Teeth,  your  Peace-Maker  Edwardus 
Septimus  came  home  crowned  with  Entente,  the  adulated 
of  surrounding  flunkies :  Merely  a  question  of  date  when 
after  that,  I  know  I  thought  so  at  the  time.  Once  the 
British  had  politically  stepped  clearly  beyond  the  Neutral, 
decisively  declared  sympathy  and  friendship  with  the  Con- 
tinental Anti-German  Camp,  there  could  be  no  doubt  left 
what  the  upshot  would  be.  There,  also,  we  observe,  in  that 
tentative,  as  in  the  actual  onslaught,  Britain,  charging 
aggressive  purpose  on  Germany,  was  herself  the  Aggressor 
in  fact.  And  ever  since  has  hostility  grown  rapidly  more 
and  more  pronounced,  less  and  less  disguised ;  check  to  you 
here,  check  to  you  there,  thwart  to  you  in  this,  thwart  to  you 
in  that,  rein  you  up  hard  on  the  left,  bar  you  there  on  the 
right;  take  what  you  will,  good  Russ.  We'll  never  owe 
you  a  grudge;  Fair  Itaile  we  have  no  quarrel  with  thee; 
and  Honey  sweet  Celt  find  paths  to  our  will  i'  the  dark; 
Albert  stand  firm  in  that  breach,  for  your  carcass  may 
save  us  from  worse ;  Ministers  of  State  openly  threatening, 


REAL  CAUSES  151 

tirading  in  a  way  that  merited  the  whip,  instant  dismissal 
from  office  at  least,  only  to  be  passed  over  by  Germany  as 
the  stump-oratory  of  irresponsible  demagogues;  Military 
Commanders  in  Chief  crying  aloud  in  the  streets  for  war, 
and  naval  expenditure  rising  by  leaps  and  bounds.  And, 
along  with  all  this,  solemn  public  statements  nothing  hostile 
was  intended,  nor  any  obligations  entered  into  could  draw 
us  in,  provided  always  he  '11  sit  still,  ne  'er  stir  hand  or  foot, 
submit  to  all  and  meekly  take  the  utmost  provocation 
heaped,  not  said  publicly  till  after,  then  in  the  heat  passed 
over.  How  utterly  lying  those  statements  were  we  now 
know,  might  throughout  have  been  seen.  Absolved  of  all 
iniquity  by  this  one  saving  grace :  So  long  as  he  '11  submit 
to  every  ukase,  no  stroke  shall  fall  on  his  devoted  head. 
Sing  praises  to  the  Lord!  We  hoped  'twould  never  need 
to.  Saturation  in  Make-Believe,  Gentlemen,  Faith  in 
Transparent  Humbug,  if  these  be  not  here,  Where  ? 

It  cannot  be  requisite  for  me  now  to  write  anything 
separately  upon  how  the  Briton  and  the  German  respec- 
tively viewed  the  Inevitability  of  war:  Damn  you,  lie 
quiet  in  your  crib  and  we'll  have  none:  It  cannot  be 
escaped,  then.  Nor,  on  the  respective  Preparation  of  the 
two.  That  of  the  British  you  have  just  read  above.  Over- 
netting  of  the  earth  with  diplomacy,  much  Bidding  for 
Allies,  with  fleets  and  armies  not  neglected  this  time. 
Clearly  a  good  advice  that,  and  we'll  follow  it,  have  a 
competent  Business  Administrative,  too;  for  the  rest,  if 
we  can't  gain  our  own  chosen  goal,  perhaps  we'll  think  of 
heaven  hereafter.  For  the  German:  Our  armies,  fleets, 
intelligence  departments,  let  naught  be  lacking  there;  our 
whole  discipline,  national  organisation,  be  stirring,  every 
man  in  his  fit  place  and  station;  no  hopeful  diplomacy  be 
neglected;  our  coherence  as  a  nation,  our  Manhood,  heroic 
constancy  and  veritable  worth  of  soul — Now  is  it  put  to  sore 


152  REAL  CAUSES 

trial  under  heaven;  and  the  just,  the  noble  and  true  of 
every  nation  pray  it  may  be  equal  to  the  test. 

There  eyes  do  regard  you, 
In  Eternity's  stillness; 
There  is  all  fullness, 
Ye  brave,  to  reward  you; 
Fight,  and  despair  not. 

Wir  heissen  euch  hoffen.  Yes,  He  bid  you  be  of  hope. 
And  we  that  are  genuine  Britons,  abhorrent  of  the  swine 
stampede  we  could  not  stem,  we  also  hope  for  you,  and 
strive  to  hope  for  Britain.  If  the  world  united  succeed 
in  crushing  Germany,  the  cloaca?  of  the  universe  will 
yawn  wide  for  Britain  beneath  the  skin  of  triumph.  If 
the  world  cannot,  there  is  one  sound  Nation  on  earth.  No 
hope  that  Another,  by  nature  yet  dearer  to  us,  could  cast 
out  rottenness  ? 

Most  terrible  and  wilful  has  been  British  Ignorance  of 
Germany.  I  spoke  of  being  able  to  fill  pages  with  ex- 
cerpts, and  shall  give  some  now  relating  to  prior  Political 
Ignorances,  which  to  reflective  readers  will  be  significant : 

...  'A  great  deal  of  ill  nature  was  generated  in 
'England  by  this  one  affair  of  the  Privateers,  had  there 
'been  no  other;  and  in  dark  cellars  of  men's  minds  (empty 
'and  dark  on  this  matter),  there  arose  strange  caricature 
'Portraitures  of  Friedrich  (to-day's  readers  say  Wilhelm) 
'  and  very  mad  notions — of  Friedrich 's  perversity,  astucity, 
'injustice,  malign  and  dangerous  intentions, — are  more  or 
'less  vocal  in  the  Old  Newspapers  and  Distinguished  Cor- 
'  respondences  of  these  days.    Of  which  this  one  sample : 

'To  what  height  the  humour  of  the  English  ran  against 
'Friedrich  is  still  curiously  noticeable,  in  a  small  Transac- 
tion of  tragic  Eg- Jacobite  nature,  which  then  happened, 


REAL  CAUSES  153 

'and  in  the  commentaries  it  awoke  in  their  imagination. 
'Cameron  of  Lochiel,  who  forced  his  way  through  the 
'Nether-Bow  in  Edinburgh,  had  been  a  notable  rebel,  but 
'got  away  to  France  and  was  safe  in  some  military  post 
there.  Dr.  Archibald  Cameron,  Lochiel's  brother,  a  stu- 
'dious,  contemplative  gentleman,  bred  to  Physic,  but  not 
'practicing  except  for  charity,  had  quitted  his  books,  and 
'attended  the  Rebel  March  in  a  medical  capacity, — "not 
'  "from  choice,"  as  he  alleged,  "but  from  compulsion  of 
'  "kindred"; — and  had  been  of  help  to  various  Loyalists  as 
'well;  a  foe  of  Human  Pain  and  not  of  anything  else  what- 
'ever:  in  fact,  as  appears,  a  very  mild  form  of  Jacobite 
'  Rebel.  He  too  got  to  Prance ;  but  had  left  his  wife,  chil- 
'dren', — And  Readers  remember,  he  returned  several  times 
privately;  was  at  length  caught,  tried  and  executed,  Be- 
cause  

'His  Grace  of  Newcastle,  and  the  English  generally,  had 
'got  the  strangest  notion  into  their  head.  Those  appoint- 
'ments  of  Earl  Marischal  to  Paris,  of  Tyrconnel  to  Berlin; 
'Friedrich's  nefarious  spoiling  of  that  salutary  Romish- 
'King  Project;  and  now  simultaneous  with  that,  his  ne- 
'  f arious  conduct  in  our  Privateer  Business ;  all  this,  does  it 
'  not  prove  him, — as  the  Hanburys,  Demon  Newswriters  and 
'well  informed  persons  have  taught  us, — to  be  one  of  the 
'  worst  men  living,  and  a  king  bent  upon  our  ruin  ?  What  is 
'  certain,  though  well-nigh  inconceivable,  it  was  then,  in  the 
'Upper  Classes  and  Political  Circles,  universally  believed. 
'  That  this  Dr.  Cameron  was  properly  an  ' '  Emissary  of  the 
'  ' '  King  of  Prussia 's  " ;  that  Cameron 's  errand  here  was  to 
rally  the  Jacobite  embers  into  new  flame ; — and  that,  at  the 
'first  clear  sputter,  Friedrich  had  15,000  men,  of  his  best 
'Prussian-Spartan  troops,  ready  to  ferry  over,  and  help 
'  Jacobitism  to  do  the  matter  this  time ! 

'  About  as  likely  as  that  the  Cham  of  Tartary  had  inter- 


154  REAL  CAUSES 

'fered  in  the  "Bangorian  Controversy,"  (raging,  I  believe, 
'some  time  since, — in  Cremorne  Gardens  first  of  all,  which 
'was  Bishop  Hoadley's  Place, — to  the  terror  of  mitres  and 
'wigs)  ;  or  that  the  Emperor  of  China  was  concerned  in 
'Meux's  Porter  Brewery,  with  an  eye  to  the  sale  of  nux 
'vomica.  Among  all  Kings  that  then  were,  or  that  ever 
'were,  King  Friedrich  distinguished  himself  by  the  grand 
'human  virtue  (one  of  the  most  important  for  Kings  and 
'for  men)  of  keeping  well  at  home, — of  always  minding  his 
'own  affairs.  These  were  in  fact  the  one  thing  he  minded, 
'and  he  did  that  well.  He  was  vigilant,  observant  all 
'round,  for  weather  symptoms ;  thoroughly  well  informed  of 
'  what  his  neighbours  had  on  hand ;  ready  to  interfere,  gen- 
erally in  some  judicious  soft  way,  at  any  moment,  if  his 
'own  Countries  or  their  interests  came  to  be  concerned;  cer- 
'tain  till  then  to  continue  a  speculative  observer  merely. 
'He  had  knowledge,  to  an  extent  of  accuracy  which  often 
'surprised  his  neighbours;  but  there  is  no  instance  in  which 
'he  meddled  where  he  had  no  business; — and  few,  I  believe, 
'in  which  he  did  not  meddle,  and  to  the  purpose,  when  he 
'had. 

'Later  in  his  Reign,  in  the  time  of  the  American  War 
'  (1777),  there  is,  on  the  English  part,  in  regard  to  Fried- 
'rich,  an  equally  distracted  notion  of  the  same  kind  brought 
'to  light.  Again,  a  conviction,  namely,  or  moral  certainty, 
'that  Friedrich  is  about  assisting  the  American  Insurgents 
'against  us; — and  a  very  strange  and  indubitable  step  is 
'ordered  to  be  taken  in  consequence.'  The  stealing  by  Brit- 
ish Elliot  of  American  Envoy  Lee's  Despatch  Box  to  wit, 
"Whereof:  '.  .  .  Not  since  the  case  of  Dr.  Cameron  was 
'there  a  more  perfect  platitude  or  a  deeper  depth  of  igno- 
' ranee  as  to  adjacent  objects  on  the  part  of  Governing  Men. 
'For  shame,  my  friends! 

' .  .  .  Friedrich 's  own  notice  of  it  " .  .  .  Shan 't  fail,  how- 


REAL  CAUSES  155 

'  "ever,  to  write  to  England  about  it,  .  .  .  for  they  are 
'  "impertinent"  (say  ignorant,  blind  as  moles,  your  Maj- 
'esty;  that  is  the  charitable  reading).'  Friedrich,  Bk.  16, 
Chap.  13,  and  Bk.  21,  Chap.  5. 

It  was  the  charitable  reading,  but,  if  the  ignorance  and 
molish  blindness  remain,  the  impertinence,  vicious  ani- 
mosity, is  likewise  now  too  indubitable.  Sordid  misconcep- 
tion, followed  by  obstinate  refusal  to  be  enlightened,  issues 
at  length  in  confirmed  incapacity  to  conceive  otherwise 
than  sordidly,  to  see  at  all.  However,  it  is  not  the  political 
ignorance  which  I  mean  to  dwell  upon  this  instant.  Sure 
enough  it  is  a  very  ill  thing  when  Statesmen  do  not  know  or 
try  to  learn  the  true  features  of  neighbour  nation,  do  noth- 
ing save  retouch  traditional  caricatures  pleasing  to  their 
vanity — and  worser  passions;  yet  the  Statesmen  are  not 
alone,  or  even  chiefly,  guilty :  It  was  but  as  the  Hanburys, 
Demon-Newswriters  and  ill-informed  Persons  had  taught 
them.  Marry,  if  with  cosmic  report  by  the  true  well-in- 
formed very  free  to  their  study,  they  deliberately  chose 
Master  Williams  his  slop  pail,  poured  nectar  of  gods  out  of 
window  and  toasted  the  Demon  in  sherris-sack  more  to  their 
taste, — !  Well,  even  so,  they  did  but  anew  take  instruction 
from  others ;  on  whom  the  first  guilt  falls.  Had  the  Writers 
of  the  day,  the  true  Intelligence  Departments,  in  a  far  dif- 
ferent sense  to  that  poor  spy  one,  but  done  their  function 
honestly,  no  Island  Simia  had  done  a  circus  turn,  with  Bear 
and  Celt,  on  such  a  metamorphosed  beast.  Ah,  sirs,  the 
Ministry  of  the  hour  1  is  not,  in  intrinsic  character,  or  at 
least  in  original  capacity  simial :  By  God,  no ;  no  man  of  it 
is — or  was.  But  this  I  must  hold  till  I  come  to  speak  of  that 
Ministry.  The  Bishops — let  us  not  speak  of  them.  They, 
with  their  wigs  and  mitres,  can  stay  in  Cremorne.    I'll  be 

1  An  hour  during  which  this  book  was  written.  Sept.,  1914;  March, 
1915;  note  of  July,  1915. 


156  REAL  CAUSES 

no  Cham  to  interfere;  or  they  might  catch  a  Tartar  in 
earnest.  If  there  be  men,  '  fit  to  be  recognised  by  their  fel- 
lows as  priests  and  high-priests,  able  to  dispel  the  uncertain- 
ties and  direct  to  the  Enternal  interests  in  any  complexity 
of  moral  doubt  and  cunning  greed  earth's  fields  can  pre- 
sent, '  it  is  in  Literature  alone,  not  in  the  extinct  hierarchies 
of  the  nominal  religions,  that  they  are  to  be  found  to-day. 
Literature  is  the  Eye  of  every  modern  state;  and,  of  any 
single  class  or  order  in  the  nation,  British  Speakers  of  the 
"Word  are  more  to  blame  for  their  country's  malfeasance 
than  any  other.  Their  peculiar  function  is  to  render  true 
report  and  to  maintain  it ;  it  is  for  them  to  be  '  everywhere, 
in  all  practical  deeds  of  earth,  the  seeing  eye,  the  heroic 
volition,  which  cans  and  dares  by  direct  contact  with  all  the 
everlasting  truth  of  things ' ;  and  had  they  been  this,  done 
their  duty,  we  should  not  now  be  at  war  with  Germany,  for 
one  item.  Since  Carlyle  and  the  handful  who  so  half- 
heartedly hung  about  him,  there  has  been  no  real  British 
Speaker  of  the  Word  at  all ;  in  the  main  part,  nothing  save 
a  tribe  of  mountebanks,  and  the  Scribblers  of  Fiction  in  top 
place  instead  of  bottom.  Not  to  my  knowledge  has  there 
been  one  that  has  borne  testimony  to  Man,  or  spoken  from 
the  Everliving;  and  in  the  denial  of  Carlyle  there  never 
could  be :  None,  himself  true,  ever  rejects  or  passes  over  a 
Great  Soul  like  his.  What  we  have  had  has  been  a  general 
endeavour,  not  to  overthrow  him  or  his  teaching,  but  to 
get  round  the  same;  and  proceed  full  sail  in  open  sea 
as  hereto.  Each  skipper,  approaching  such  Teneriffe  or 
Atlas  unremovable,  casts  his  eyes  asquint ;  salutes  with  what 
grace  he  can  muster;  makes  a  tack  or  two,  and  thanks  his 
stars  each  mile  now  lessens  height  in  the  receding  distance : 
and  it  is  the  Men  of  Letters  who  have  led  the  way  in  this; 
taught  Statesmen  how.  He  told  you  that  hitherto  was  not 
an  open  sea;  unless  free  ocean  to  world's  end,  better  com- 


REAL  CAUSES  157 

parable  to  millrace :  I  do  not  know  if  all  the  clever  naviga- 
tors continue  happy  in  results  achieving.  We  no  more  row 
all  ways  at  once,  nor  put  to  sea  in  leaky  bottoms,  captains  in 
a  doze ;  ships  yare,  all  hands  alert,  expert  with  tackle  of  the 
best  can  be,  we  '11  ram  the  Mill,  send  it  to  perdition :  That 's 
your  notion  ?  Well,  it  will  be  a  Trial  of  Strength  like — like 
several  I  've  seen.  But  your  Intelligence  Department  has  not 
tried  its  strength  with  Carlyle ;  I  allow  it  has  had  that  much 
wisdom.  It  has  sidled  by,  with  various  grimace,  and  shuf- 
fled round  the  corner.  Yea,  verily,  your  Writers  do  not 
stand  before  you  as  Lights  of  Heaven,  revealing  to  you 
your  nobler  selves,  your  Past  and  your  true  path  through 
the  Present  to  the  unknown  depths  of  the  Future ;  they  are 
men,  either  utterly  shallow,  or  whose  own  innermost  souls 
are  in  shuffle,  that  have  never  found  what  they  should  have 
been  able  to  tell,  nor  gone  the  right  way  to  seek  it.  They 
are  poor  creatures,  crippled  wretches,  that  have  been  trai- 
tors to  themselves ;  not  fit  to  direct  you  to  what  you  should, 
or  say  you  Nay  when  you  are  bent  on  what  you  should  not ; 
only  fit  to  do  as  you  bid  and  endorse  with  pretended  author- 
ity whatsoever  your  desires  may  be,  your  imagination  de- 
picture. I  could  name  several  in  whose  original  capacity  it 
lay  to  have  been  Lights  of  Heaven,  real  Speakers  of  the 
Word,  indeed,  but  they  turned  to  folly,  never  faced  the 
perils  in  stern  solitude;  and  their  words,  accordingly,  are 
more  mischievous  than  those  of  born  fools.  These  Writers 
have  talked  to  you  much  about  present  Germany :  But  what 
did  it  lie  in  them  to  know  ?  They  could  find  their  like  there 
and  report  of  them:  their  like  is  found  in  every  country 
perennially.  They  could  tell  you  of  the  Falstaff  Regiment, 
and  swear  it  King 's  own  chosen  corps  there,  as  Democracy 's 
here ;  but  no  immortal  god,  or  meanest  private  of  that  Regi- 
ment could  their  eyes  discern  to  know  him  from  haltingest 


158  EEAL  CAUSES 

Jack  begging  at  the  town's  end,  or  sprucest  drumming 
proudly  up  the  esplanade  with  following  enow. 

Carlyle's  last  public  word,  or  what  he  chose  to  leave  as 
his  last  public  word,  was  his  letter  to  the  Times  during  the 
Franco-German  War  of  1870,  and  upon  that  war,  British 
sympathy  with  France.  We  are  told,  by  Froude,  that  the 
effect  of  it  was  great,  that  it  sufficed  to  check  that  ill-based 
sympathy  from  overt  mischief ;  and  believe  so  much.  Check, 
clearly  enough,  for  the  moment;  British  feelings  cowering 
down, — with  contrary  whimpers  irrepressible  and  wide- 
spread. Froude  and  Ruskin  themselves  shilly-shallying  and 
playing  double.  British  sympathies  did  not  change  direc- 
tion, and  soon  found  a  way  round  the  corner.  It  was  the 
last  check:  since  that  day,  the  stream  has  gone  on  in  one 
continually  increasing  torrent  to  the  present  issue.  And  it 
is  plain  to  me  that  since  1870  there  has  been,  in  addition  to 
all  other  elements,  and,  in  some  views,  more  horribly  ugly 
than  the  other  elements,  a  rooted  Fear  of  God 's  Judgments 
in  British  Anti-Germanism,  an  impious  recalcitration 
against  those  Judgments,  arising  out  of  fear  they  might  fall 
on  themselves  too ;  a  most  impious  private  determination  to 
reverse  those  Judgments,  to  set  up  their  own  as  superior 
to  His,  and  thus  be  secure  against  the  like  tried  on  them: 
Yes,  Gentlemen,  this  is  a  Trial  of  Strength  I  have  witnessed 
before  now. 

Well,  we  have  come  a  good  way  from  the  Primitive  to 
reach  this,  the  Acme!  Authentic  primitive  Trial  of 
Strength,  unexalted,  unabased,  could  not  be  here.  Both 
nations  had  long  since  reached  an  intelligent  manhood, 
which,  whether  it  went  forward  in  the  same  or  fell  back- 
ward, had  forever  rendered  return  to  that  impossible. 
Since  you  would  not  give  the  Peer 's  Welcome,  war  was  cer- 
tain ;  but  no  simple  Trial  of  Strength  was  open  to  you,  only 


REAL  CAUSES  159 

this  very  compound.  If  you  could  have  given  the  welcome 
due,  your  course  would  have  been  clear  to  you.  You  would 
not  have  feared  Germany's  increasing  power,  and  no  war 
East  could  have  provoked  war  "West.  Your  course  had  all 
been  straight  and  honourable.  You  would  have  said :  The 
East  is  not  our  concern.  And  to  France,  if  she  sought  to 
seize  opportunity  to  attack  Germany  when  engaged  in  East- 
ern "War :  Hold !  now.  Give  assurance  of  Neutrality  within 
twenty-four  hours  or  our  fleets  do  lay  your  northern  coasts 
in  ruin.  If  you  meddled  at  all,  the  sole  straightforward 
honest  course  there  was,  not  on  your  lying  hypothesis,  but 
in  the  living  truth  and  every  noble  generous  impulse  of 
Man.  "What  thing  you  have  done — Is  there  aught  can  now 
wash  the  stain  of  it  from  Britain's  honour? 

Militarism 

This  is  a  word  in  all  men's  mouths,  though  what  they 
mean  by  it  might  be  difficult  to  define.  The  war  is  to  crush 
German  Militarism.  Not  Germany?  Oh  no!  Dear  solid 
Germany,  riding  to  death  under  a  Nightmare  Abstraction, 
we  rush  to  save  her  from  the  precipices,  exorcise  demoniac 
possession.  Well,  first  catch  your  Abstract  Bogey  and  then 
we  '11  see  what  sort  of  gibbet  ingenuity  can  devise  for  him. 
If  material,  a  mere  carved  turnip  with  candle  inside,  the 
shot  and  gunpowder  expending  on  him  ought  to  prove  effec- 
tive. If,  as  the  air,  invulnerable,  viewless  as  the  winds,  a 
mere  nothing  coined  in  fevered  fancy,  he  might  perhaps 
have  been  cheaper  got  rid  of  by  staying  at  home  and  talcing 
physic  instead  of  administering  such  a  drastic  dose.  We 
will  drop  the  Ism,  meanwhile  at  least. 

Assuredly  there  have  been  Militant  Powers  of  a  sort. 
Conquering  hordes  led  on  by  men  whose  aims  have  been  to 
establish  their  own  sway  over  as  large  a  portion  of  earth's 


160  REAL  CAUSES 

surface  as  they  had  power  and  luck  to  subject.  And  in 
revolutionary  frenzies  we  have  seen  the  like.  Mr.  Churchill 
directly  compared  the  German  aims  of  to-day  with  the 
French  of  that  past  epoch ;  and  concluded  for  comfort  that, 
as  the  nation  was  not  the  same,  neither  was  the  Man,  thank 
heaven!  On  which  hint,  it  has  been  common  since  to  see 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  portrayed  with  the  shade  of  Napoleon  in 
the  background.  Than  which  nothing  could  be  more  ab- 
surd; Macedon  and  Monmouth  not  in  it.  Churchill,  of 
course,  with  the  insolence  endemic,  spoke  in  contempt; 
meant  that  the  Kaiser  need  not  be  similarly  feared,  as  hav- 
ing nothing  of  Napoleon's  Military  Genius;  the  thank 
heaven!  was  therefore.  Of  the  Military  Genius,  I  do  not 
profess  to  be  so  lordly  a  ready-made  judge  as  yon  scion  of 
Corporal  John's,  but  know  very  well  that  he  beats  the 
French  Captain  through  and  through  in  every  other  regard, 
and  is  of  ideas  totally  superior  to  any  Napoleonic.  If  any 
depth  of  ignorance  or  platitude  could  be  amazing  to  one! 
In  the  inflated  ambition  certainly  not  comparable,  either  he 
or  his  nation;  on  the  military  side  perhaps  incomparable. 
For  your  ease  of  endowment:  Where  truth  is  abandoned 
and  fact  not  regarded,  where  is  the  difficulty  ?  Most  utterly 
fantastical,  shameless,  disgraceful,  are  your  likenings;  the 
bestial  riot  of  baseless  fancy.  You  talk  of  the  '  Unspeakable 
Prussia,'  and  are  yourselves  unspeakable  indeed.  'Swol- 
len-headed Wilhelm'  gurgles  the  gutter,  and  His  Majesty's 
Front  Bench  make  noise  in  harmony.  Montaigne  does 
report  of  one  who  could  command  tumultuary  organ  to 
tune;  but  there  are  some  things  which  decency  forbids 
description  of. 

There  have  also  been  Military  Powers  of  another  sort; 
though  that  is  the  sort  you  mean.  Bubbles  of  an  hour, 
those  you  refer  to;  the  gaseous,  vanishing  at  cock-crow, 
whatever  havoc  they  have  wrought.     The  solid  have  no 


REAL  CAUSES  161 

cousinship;  they  have  never  been  hordes,  but  settled  na- 
tions, usually  eminently  first  in  civilisation;  and,  if  they 
have  sometimes  premeditated  conquest,  their  conquests  have 
been  lasting,  beneficent,  a  blessing  to  the  conquered.  Where- 
of, of  course,  Rome  is,  par  excellence,  the  example ;  and  you 
might,  by  the  bye,  do  well  to  note  that  it  is  not  the  conquest 
of  all  Italy,  of  Gaul,  or  Spain,  etc.,  which  remains  a  stain  on 
Roman  Virtus,  if  possibly  the  jealous  crush  of  rival  Car- 
thage does.  It  had  pardon  to  ask;  but  done  on  her  own 
strength,  I  think  got  it.  Rome,  you  may  also  observe,  was 
there  the  Rising  Power,  not  the  Prior  Ascendent ;  and  Car- 
thage merited  death,  however  unjust  and  merciless  the  exe- 
cutioner. These  were  in  Heathen  Times.  Christendom 
affords  no  instance  of  a  sound  and  healthy  yet  selfishly  ag- 
gressive Military  Power;  nor  could,  such  thing  being  con- 
trary to  its  Faith.  Sound  and  healthy,  nobly  intelligent, 
yet,  in  some  cases,  premeditatedly  aggressive  Military 
Power  is  not  a  thing  that  I  believe  to  have  finally  vanished 
from  the  earth,  however.  No ;  I  believe  that  such,  informed 
by  a  very  different  spirit  to  the  old  heathen,  will  again  be. 
For  I  know  that  the  wider  Faith  of  the  Future  will  often 
not  only  sanction  but  command  '  aggression ' ;  properly  only 
in  an  expansion  of  the  same  faith  which  prompted  the 
Christian  to  command  it  against  the  pagan.  I  should  by  no 
means  care  to  guarantee  that  Germany  is  not  to  be  a  Mili- 
tary Power  of  this  sort;  that  something  of  the  nature  of 
what  I  here  hint  at  is  not  at  work,  with  much  foreign 
admixture,  in  what  you  call  the  professed  Doctrine  of  Mili- 
tarism, as  expounded  by  some  Germans.  Your  extremity  of 
rage  at  it  points  that  way,  and  one  has  had  direct  glimpses 
of  things  confirmatory.  Supposing  that  such  a  Military 
Power  does  exist  in  Germany,  however  incipiently — The 
Doctrine  would  never  have  provoked  your  rage,  any  more 
than  a  thousand  other  Isms  which  racket  and  clash  at  home 


162  EEAL  CAUSES 

without  let  or  hindrance. — I  say,  supposing  that  the  spirit 
which  can  again  go  forth  over  the  world  conquering  and  to 
conquer  has  so  far  reached  maturity  in  Germany  as  to  give 
the  least  visible  indication  of  its  approaching  material  by 
spiritual  Might,  and  it  could  reasonably  be  called  a  cause  of 
war ;  namely,  in  that  reversal  of  the  truth  where  the  enmity 
awakened  by  it  is  the  true  Real  Cause.  Visible  indication  ? 
I  do  not  know  that  this  is  requisite.  Hounds  of  Anti-god's 
breed  have  a  very  keen  scent,  quite  capable  of  snuffing 
Divine  Essence  before  it  has  clothed  itself  with  earthly 
body.  But,  however  that  may  be,  it  is  almost  equally  non- 
sensical, quite  equally  nothing  could  be,  to  attribute  this 
war  to  a  determination  on  the  part  of  Germany  to  force 
her  Kultur  upon  less  enlightened  populations  as  it  is  to 
ascribe  it  to  inflated  ambition  and  lust  of  territory.  No 
sole  haughty  Up  with  me!  here  broke  the  peace;  but  a 
dirty  pack's  united  cry  of  Down  with  you!  let  loose  the 
Furies. 

Germany's  Army  is  a  necessity  of  existence  to  her.  It 
came  by  unconscious  instinct  of  a  vital  need ;  has  been  main- 
tained, enlarged,  in  an  intelligent  and  conscious  recognition 
of  that  need,  not  in  ambitious  views :  most  soundly  based  on 
Fact.  Ever  hitherto  it  has  been  very  nobly  and  restrainedly 
used ;  more  stainless,  or,  if  you  prefer  it,  less  stained  laur- 
els few  armed  hosts  have  been  crowned  with  than  this  Ger- 
man. It  may  never  yet,  this  modern  German  army,  have 
fought  for  a  highest  human  cause;  but  it  has  been  solid 
honest  for  an  earth  not  shut  to  heaven,  therefore  in  touch 
therewith.  An  immense  military  force  very  finely  under 
the  control  of  just  and  modest  human  reason ;  no  mess-room 
inordinacies  swaying  its  Commander's  counsels.  Intrinsi- 
cally, a  blessed  phenomenon,  German's  Military  Power. 
That  it  is  capable  of  abuse  necessarily  follows;  and  rebel- 
lious spirits,  which  owe  a  trembling  hatred  to  whatsoever 


REAL  CAUSES  163 

could  compel  them,  have  naturally  done  their  do  to  make 
out  that  it  has  been  abused,  and  is  a  Power  of  Satan: 
whom  no  man  ought  ever  to  have  heeded.  That  a  military 
spirit  in  bad  sense  is  sure  to  exist  in  an  army  like  the  Ger- 
man, in  the  nation  which  possesses  such  an  army,  goes 
without  saying;  for  it  always  does,  and  we  have  examples 
to  spare  at  home.  But  there  is  no  evidence  that  it  had  at 
all  got  the  upper  hand ;  there  is  at  least  one  positive  assur- 
ance it  had  not,  the  existence  of  the  Man  whom  you  chiefly 
swear  infected  with  it;  and  all  the  evidence  you  have 
brought  goes  everywhere  to  prove  that  it  had  not.  You 
cannot  even  assert  the  malign  intentions  without  simul- 
taneously demanding  credence  of  such  a  triple  involution 
in  Machiavellian  art  by  Man  and  People  hitherto  noted  for 
downrightness,  and  wide-winged,  distant  schemes  prepos- 
terous in  them  and  him,  you  tell  each  sane  intelligence 
you're  candidate  for  Bedlam,  likelier  for  Newgate. 

Germany 's  Army  is  a  grand  one ;  and  I  can  well  believe 
that  if  she  come  through  this  war,  it  will  have  much  to 
conquer  for  her  yet  on  just  cause  arising.  But  hitherto  and 
now  it  has  eminently  been  for  Defence,  and  her  Growths  in 
territory  have  mainly  followed  as  results  of  wars  forced  on 
her,  against  which  she  successfully  defended  herself. 
Sword  wielded  by  that  hand,  controlled  by  that  Soul,  is  not 
what  I  had  feared,  burrowed  foul  to  find  Allies  to  protect 
me  against;  could  think  a  danger  to  fair  progress,  or  the 
one  true  Freedom  of  Man. 

That  in  the  Military  and  other  organisations  of  Ger- 
many, her  national  discipline,  spirit  of  loyal  obedience,  sub- 
ordination and  co-ordination,  there  is  very  probably  grave 
danger  to  what  you  are  pleased  to  call  your  Democratical 
Institutions  I  do  fully  admit,  but  do  not  at  all  weep  there- 
fore.   Pugnacious  Winston 's  trepidations  there  were  honest 


164  EEAL  CAUSES 

and  well  founded.  He  specified  Constitutional  Monarchy  in 
peril ;  whether  instantly  after,  according  to  wonted  formula 
he  named  Free  Parliament,  I  do  not  recollect.  'Twould  be 
understood,  if  not,  and  modesty  is  gracious, — sometimes: 
all  know  It  true  priceless  summit,  what  figure  be  wheeled 
first  in  state  procession.  We,  Cherubim  and  Seraphim, 
whose  opposing  strains  produce  sphere  harmony  without 
monotony,  our  loss  were  the  Irreparable.  Better  all  earth's 
fields  were  drenched  in  blood  than  our  security  of  seat  be 
put  in  jeopardy,  and  nations  lack  celestial  guidance.  Such 
examples  flowing  now  of  wisdom,  holiness  and  justice ;  so 
grandly  reticent,  composedly  dignified,  a  Cabinet  of  States- 
men unmatchable,  whose  spiral  course  puts  eagle  flight  to 
shame;  the  whole  world  to  the  rescue  if  any  other  sort  of 
luminary  threatens  to  dispute  the  sky.  Ah,  that's  a  peril 
must  be  dealt  with  early,  nipped  i'  the  bud.  God  knows  it 
might  be  a  sun  in  verity.  Haste  every  man  to  snuff  it  out 
while  still  on  the  horizon ;  another  hour  and  it  will  be  up 
beyond  our  reach.  Then  were  the  gaze  of  men  directed 
thither,  their  hearts  no  more  enthralled  by  harmonies  within 
these  walls  and  sky-sign^  glory.  The  abomination  of  deso- 
lation would  supervene;  and  burning  rays  leave  no  green 
place  of  rest.  For  without  those  angel  troops'  continual 
bickering,  sublimely  traced x  in  dread  of  sacred  right 's 
invasion,  where  should  we  be?  Imagination  cannot  grasp 
it  quite ;  feels  sure  it  were  the  end  of  all  things  sweet,  and 
happy  earth  a  Tyrant's  desert. 

When  young  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley  sought  to  see  Carlyle 
and  went  as  soldier  to  a  sage,  he  got,  through  one  rent  in 
the  clouds  of  Eld,  weary  and  foreclone.  Yes,  yes;  I  hope 
you  '11  bring  some  bayonets  yet  to  bear  on  yon  Westminster 
folk.  Carlyle  never  thought  that  the  mere  substitution  of 
bayonets  would  be  much  of  an  improvement,  that  a  Military 

*Not  for  long!— Note  of  July,  1915. 


REAL  CAUSES  165 

Despotism  could  ever  cure  the  ills  we  suffer;  yet  he  knew 
very  well  that  to  whoever  should  cure  or  attempt  better- 
ment, the  Military  would  he  indispensable.  And  if  Messrs. 
Asquith,  Churchill  and  Lloyd  George  were  to  ask  the  souls 
God  gave  them  candidly  (were  such  a  thing  now  possible  to 
them)  ;  the  better  sort  of  Liberal  and  Labour  men,  yea,  and 
of  Tory,  too  (probably  not  present  in  Parliament)  ;  I  think 
those  souls  would  answer :  The  thing  that  we  would  do  can 
never  be  done  without.  The  experiences  of  those  named 
Three,  in  their  own  strenuous  domestic  campaigns  for  much 
that  was  good ;  made  futile,  tumbled  down  as  fast  as  built ; 
such  enormous  expenditure  of  time  and  effort  for  trifling 
or  no  headway ;  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  make  them  confess 
It  is  hopeless:  These  Reforms  that  dwell  in  our  hearts  (not 
to  speak  of  what  would  have  dwelt  in  those  hearts  in  hap- 
pier circumstances)  cannot  be  carried  by  hustings  persua- 
sion alone.  Considerable  part  of  the  deadly  animosity  of 
France  and  Britain  toward  the  German  Military  and  other 
spirit  is  that  of  mutinous  spirits;  the  oath  of  the  legions 
of  Nox,  where  chaos  umpire  sits,  that  none  other  shall  sit 
umpire.  Whoever  can  conquer  that,  or  lessen  its  realm  a 
little,  will  certainly  be  no  Genghis  Khan  or  Tamerlane,  no 
ancient  Attila  nor  Modern  Hun  of  your  imagination,  but  he 
will  full  surely  be  a  Knight  in  panoply  and  Chief  of  Armies. 
If  not  blinded  by  soul,  lost  in  the  night,  given  up  to  delu- 
sion and  pledged  to  fanatical  Principle,  the  better  among 
you  might  have  seen  in  that  in  the  German  could  say  Nay ! 
to  Hustings '  Supremacy  great  hope ;  hailed  fellow-worker, 
for  mutual  aid  and  mutual  enlightenment.  But,  as  it  is, 
the  Bigot's  Shibboleth  is  all  with  you.  Sir  Edward  Car- 
son and  his  kin,  perfect  in  its  accent,  shall  be  left  unmuz- 
zled, permitted  things  amazing ;  but  a  noble  German  Kaiser, 
toiling  for  his  country's  good,  holding  out  the  hand  of 
brotherhood  to  you,  who  will  not  pronounce  it,  must  to  the 


166  REAL  CAUSES 

dogs:  The  Article  to  be  believed  for  salvation  is  all,  and 
Manhood  naught.  'Tis  pity  it  should  be  so  with  you! 
'Twixt  King  Carson  and  King  Wilhelm  one  can  believe  the 
gulf  unbridgeable.  But  'twixt  Sire  Asquith  with  his  hench- 
men know  no  division  deep  as  hell,  if  wide  as  mortal  Error. 
Could  name  a  better  too,  than  either  one  of  this  Home  Trin- 
ity, Canadian  Laurier.  They  will  never  be  charmed :  I  do 
not  dream  it.  You  never  heard  tell  of  a  Church  Militant? 
No  soul  among  you  ever  yearned  for  silent  rank  therein, 
instead  of  successful  persuasion  of  mob  to  let  Your  Excel- 
lence be  minister  to  its  will  1 

Anarchies  cannot  be  subdued  by  Force.  If  the  soul  of 
man  has  not  first  overcome  its  infidelities,  all  its  efforts  will 
not  better  a  bad  matter.  But  if  the  soul  has  conquered  its 
infidelities,  Man  will,  of  a  surety,  front  anarchy  armed,  the 
mailed  fist  often  be  in  evidence. 

Where  elements  are  multifarious,  some  are  just  neutralis- 
ing antidotes  to  others ;  the  introduction  of  fresh  poison  not 
always  sorrowful  when  thus  called  for.  If,  as  you  so  swear 
to  be  the  case,  German  infirmity  has  run  to  doctrine  and 
practice  of  brute  force,  may  not  this,  in  the  sum,  prove 
wholesome  counter-active  to  your  soft-sowder,  heaven  to  all 
and  sundry  doctrine  and  practice?  I  should  not  bless  the 
German  infirmity  any  more  than  the  British;  but  might 
rest  somewhat  pacifically  satisfied  to  let  the  two  wrestle  it 
out  between  themselves;  thankful  when  Kilkenny  ended, 
and  only  the  tails  were  left.  Shocking  Vandal,  too,  as  easily 
pass  muster,  twinned  with  Dilettante.  Or,  in  another  key, 
remark  that  whilst  one  would  so  much  prefer  to  see  doom 
executed  by  Destroying  Angel,  if  a  day  of  judgment  come, 
it  is  by  far  more  common  to  see  the  Butcher  let  loose. 

Here,  then,  is  obviously  the  place  to  speak  of  the  alleged 
German  Atrocities,  if  one  speak  at  all.    I  may  say,  at  once, 


EEAL  CAUSES  1G7 

that  I  make  little  of  them  in  every  sense ;  regard  the  allega- 
tion of  them,  as  characteristic  of  the  German,  as  the  super- 
lative Atrocity.  They  were  so  alleged  instantly  by  Mr. 
Churchill,  etc.,  without  the  smallest  enquiry;  so  taken  up 
by  the  nation ;  and  this  fact  alone  were  sufficient  to  vitiate 
British  witness  on  the  matter.  Frightful  things  are  always 
done  in  war;  and  it  is  never  until  long  after  that  one  can 
know  what  was  really  done,  much  less  what  guilt  was  in  it. 
Considering  what  a  frenziedly  excitable  people  the  Belgians 
are,  what  a  humour  they  met,  and  had  been  taught  to  meet 
the  Germans  in,  foregone  conclusion  of  horrid  Barbarians 
and  God  knows  what,  for  British  Statesmen  to  take  any- 
thing on  their  report,  much  more  lend  it  sanction  to  the 
nation,  was — well,  I  had  rather  not  say  what  it  was:  It  is 
customary  for  the  hustings'  chosen  to  make  what  capital 
they  can  out  of  whatever  appeals  to  hustings ;  but  there  is  a 
Court  of  Man  where  no  such  pleas  avail  them.  One  too  well 
knows  what  the  general  Populace  of  Europe,  wherefrom  the 
common  soldiery  is  drawn,  to-day  is;  not  sober,  religious 
peasantry,  'soul  of  a  nation's  worth.'  Ah  !  no.  Neither  are 
the  Upper  Classes,  wherefrom  the  officers  are  drawn,  re- 
markable for  earnest  piety  and  an  iron  restraint  of  passion. 
No  perfect  discipline  was  to  be  looked  for,  and,  in  fact,  no 
horror  could  surprise.  These  words  apply  to  all  engaged 
indifferently ;  and,  certainly,  I  have  no  belief  the  German  is 
the  worse.  War  is  terrible :  destruction  rages,  many  towns 
are  in  ruin  and  thousands  'innocent'  slain:  Yes,  but  it  is 
not  the  heavens  which  lay  the  whole  blame  of  that  on  one 
pair  of  shoulders.  The  bombardment  of  Scarborough,  etc. 
One  does  not  know  why  it  was  done ;  can  guess  several  prob- 
able reasons;  for  wanton  destruction  and  'massacre  of 
babes,'  just  hysterics.  Suppose  it  was,  which  I  do  not 
believe,  prompted  only  by  the  thought.  Those  Islanders, 
sitting  secure  there   while  they  bring  desolation  to  ten 


168  REAL  CAUSES 

thousands  of  homes,  shall  taste  a  little,  are  you  the  one  to 
rebuke  ?  In  such  a  war,  I  do  not  know  either  how  far  the 
feeling  Smite  all,  without  remorse !  might  find  pardon :  For 
sure  there  seldom  was  one  wherein  the  People  more  thor- 
oughly deserved  punishment.  Our  Statesmen, — not  being 
Statesmen,  nor  having  gone  into  war  in  just  and  stable 
spirit,  being  Demagogues  that  have  got  into  war  through 
enmity  and  by  scandalous  contrivance  nominally  to  avert, — 
do  nothing  to  moderate  the  emotions  of  poor  human  crea- 
tures, who  should  have  been  able  to  look  to  them  to  calm, 
restrain  as  well  as  to  rouse,  instead  of  exciting  and  utilising 
for  political  objects.  Just  indignation  and  level  equity: 
Good  God!  What  have  these  to  do  with  such  a  quarrel? 
Whip  up !  Whip  up !  Fan  madness  into  flame !  The  wilder 
furor  best  befits  our  thirsty  pack;  and  Huntsman's  duty 
but  to  keep  his  dogs  upon  their  prey.  Thus  making  one 
Atrocity  quite  indisputable,  however  many  lie  in  doubt. 

The  answer  to  this  matter  is:  Suspend  all  judgment  till 
you  really  know  the  truth  of  the  facts.  When  you  have 
really  got  to  know  the  deeds  of  the  several  armies  in  this 
particular,  you  may  be  able  to  compare  them  with  each 
other,  or  some  other  standard.  That  when  the  veil  is  lifted 
and  sober  truth  can  tell  what  has  been  done,  it  will  have 
many  acts  of  savage  'atrocity'  to  report  of  individuals  in 
each  and  all  of  the  armies  is  not  doubtful.  The  question 
then  will  be,  By  Whom ;  with  what  allowance ;  under  what 
conditions?  And  in  fair  reckonings,  also,  What  deeds  of 
nobleness  and  mercy  to  set  in  the  opposite  scales?  If  still 
you  find  too  much  to  pass  in  silence,  must  condemn,  'be 
judicial,  measured,  not  shrieky,  mobbish  and  flying  off  into 
the  infinite,  in  giving  verdict.'  The  Germans  are  a  brave 
people:  Valour  and  gentleness  were  never  separable.  Nor 
are  the  acts  of  earnest  valiant  men  done  in  grim  stern  hours 
comparable  with  disport  in  horror,  even  when  such  as  may 


EEAL  CAUSES  169 

after  give  ground  for  remorse.  It  is  not  in  the  least  for  me 
to  be  apologetic  for  the  German,  or  plead  condoning  cir- 
cumstances. Yet,  in  free  human  brotherhood,  I  note  to  you 
that  the  circumstances  under  which  the  German  is  fighting 
are  mightily  different  from  those  under  which  you  are  fight- 
ing. YoUj  for  all  the  cry  of  strait  and  Help  us !  creation 
at  large,  are,  comparatively,  fighting  much  at  your  ease  as 
yet;  he  is  fighting  against  enormous  odds;  ringed  with 
fearful  peril,  threatened  with  imminent  perdition  on  nigh 
all  sides  at  once ;  and  many  things  are  more  than  excusable 
to,  are  directly  incumbent  as  duty  upon,  man  so  beset, 
which  in  other  predicaments  were  wholly  unwarrantable. 
It  is  disport  in  horror,  callous  indifference,  which  you 
charge;  and  your  allegations  are  not  worth  regarding.  I 
shall  give  two  utterances  of  that  humane  Friedrich  whom 
your  perversity  loaded  with  still  blacker  crimes,  and  which 
I  have  no  doubt  voice  the  heart  of  living  Hohenzollern  in 
much  also. 

1st  'There  is  nothing  left  for  us,  mon  cher,  My  lord, 
'  but  to  mingle  and  blend  our  weeping  for  the  losses  we  have 
'had.  If  my  head  were  a  fountain  of  tears,  it  would  not 
'suffice  for  the  grief  I  feel. 

'  Our  Campaign  is  over ;  and  there  has  nothing  come  of  it, 
'on  one  side  or  the  other,  but  the  loss  of  a  great  many 
'worthy  people,  the  misery  of  a  great  many  poor  soldiers 
'crippled  for  ever,  the  ruin  of  some  Provinces,  the  ravage, 
'pillage  and  conflagration  of  some  flourishing  Towns.  Ex- 
'ploits  these  which  make  humanity  shudder:  sad  fruits  of 
'the  wickedness  and  ambition  of  certain  People  in  Power;' 
(Yes;  in  another  sense  too.)  'who  sacrifice  everything  to 
'  their  unbridled  passions !  I  wish  you,  mon  cher  My  lord, 
'  nothing  that  has  the  least  resemblance  to  my  destiny ;  and 
'everything  that  is  wanting  to  it.'    (Last  word  of  book  18.) 

2nd    'May  Heaven  grant, — if  Heaven  deign  to  look  down 


170  EEAL  CAUSES 

'on  the  paltry  concerns  of  man, — that  the  unalterable  and 
'  nourishing  destiny  of  this  Country  preserve  the  sovereigns 
'who  shall  govern  it  from  the  scourges  and  calamities  which 
'Prussia'  (say  Germany)  'has  suffered  in  these  times  of 
'trouble  and  subversion;  that  they  may  never  again  be 
'  forced  to  recur  to  the  violent  and  fatal  remedies  which  we 
'have  been  obliged  to  employ  in  maintenance  of  the  State 
'against  the  ambitious  hatred  of  the  Sovereigns'  (and  Peo- 
ples) 'of  Europe,  who  wished  to  annihilate  the  House  of 
'Brandenberg  and  exterminate  from  the  world  whatever 
'bore  the  Prussian  name!'     (Book  19,  Chap.  1.) 

Yes,  your  atrocity  allegations  are  all  of  the  same  old 
tune,  and  so  are  the  'Militarism'  ones.  You  said  just  the 
same  of  that  Friedrich,  in  this  respect,  too,  that  you  say  of 
the  Living, — and  you  say  it  as  falsely.  True  Warrior  and 
true  Man  of  Peace  are  forever  one  entity;  and  so  long  as 
the  present  Kaiser  lived  there  was  no  sort  of  danger  from 
mess-room  inordinacies  or  German  Military  spirit  in  the 
bad  sense.  Had  you  hated  it,  you  would  have  seen  in  him 
security  against  it;  and  your  obscene  raving  at  him  tells 
plainly  not  it  does  your  soul  abhor,  but  fears  what  might 
whip  you  deservedly. 

Militarism  is  a  word  in  all  men 's  mouths ;  and  here  is  the 
best  definition  of  what  they  mean  by  it  I  can  find  for  you : 
'  Men  and  Knitting  women  repeat  Federaliste,  with  or  with- 
'out  much  Dictionary-meaning;  but  go  on  repeating  it,  as 
'  is  usual  in  such  cases,  till  the  meaning  of  it  becomes  almost 
'magical,  fit  to  designate  all  mystery  of  Iniquity;  and 
'Federalists  has  grown  a  word  of  Exorcism  and  Apage- 
'Satanas.' 


REAL  CAUSES  171 

h 

democracy  versus  autocracy 

It  is  one  of  the  loud  clamours  that  this  war  is  a  struggle 
for  supremacy  between  Democracy  and  Autocracy,  and  I 
am  sceptical  of  its  being  so,  at  least  doubtful  how  far  it  is 
so,  only  wish  I  could  thoroughly  believe  it  is  so ;  for  that 
it  is  no  struggle  between  Democracy  and  Tyranny  is  out  of 
doubt  with  me.  British  constitutional  abhorrence  of  all 
actual  Sovereignty,  existent  in  Germany  alone  of  nations, 
is  beyond  question  a  Real  Cause  of  the  war ;  but  this  is  not 
enough  to  make  it  a  struggle  between  Divine  Authority  and 
Anarchy,  constituted  or  sans  Constable.  No ;  for  that  much 
more  is  requisite ;  a  great  positive  in  the  German  nation. 
No  negation  will  suffice.  For  it  there  must  be  not  merely  a 
remaining-existent  Sovereignty,  however  actual,  but  a  vi- 
tally intelligent  of  the  Present,  and  an  adequate  following. 
Quite  easy  for  you  to  rush  forth  madly  fencing  with  Bogeys 
of  your  own  creation,  to  furiously  attack  the  house  wherein 
is  lodged — naught  like  them.  Quite  possible  for  the  owner 
of  the  house  to  meet  you,  buffet  till  one  or  both  has  gotten 
satisfaction;  but  this  will  not  make  him  Michael  of  the 
starry  kingdoms,  nor  all  his  troops  bright  with  intelligence 
of  heaven :  Which  extremity  is  not  demanded  of  mortals 
either. — Whereof  in  the  last  subdivision  of  this  chapter, 
with  possibly  some  other  touches  as  we  go  along.1 

Democracy,  Autocracy,  these,  too,  are  words  bandied  to 
and  fro  with  more  of  magical  than  human  meaning.  By 
Autocracy,  you — those  Britons  whose  soul's  workings  have 
given  birth  to  this  War,  whom  I  here  address  as  'you,' 

1  Nothing  special  is  said  of  this  in  last  subdivision,  the  'other 
touches'  having  sufficed. 


172  REAL  CAUSES 

though  surely  in  more  hope  of  awakening  Britons  of  an- 
other strain  than  of  making  much  impression  upon  them: 
Indeed  in  hope  of  neither,  but  just  in  clear  determination  of 
speaking  straightly  to  the  fact,  as  first  incumbent  duty. — 
By  Autocracy,  you  mean,  in  the  main,  the  despotic  rule  of 
One  Man  in  a  prideful  self-will.  With  an  abject  discredence 
that  one  man  in  sovereign  power  would  ever  use  that  power 
otherwise  than — otherwise  than  one  of  yourselves  would,  I 
suppose  ?  Each  of  you  imagines  that  he  knows  how  himself 
would  use  it ;  swears  that,  since  he  cannot  come  by  it  to  use 
so,  no  other  shall;  and  is  unable  to  conceive  of  him  who 
could  possess  it  without  vanity,  to  sway  beneficent  o'er 
brother  men  in  frankest  league  with  him.  Nay,  nowadays 
you  do  not  stop  there.  But  have  taken  oath  unitedly: 
The  One  Man,  sovereign  in  verity,  be  he  good  or  be  he  ill, 
shall  no  more  be,  at  home  or  in  a  foreign  nation.  We  will 
not  suffer  him  on  any  terms.  For  our  envy's  gnawings 
cannot  endure  him,  nor  our  rages  abide  the  thought  of  him. 
Be  he  blessed  or  banned  of  heaven,  our  fellest  curse  shall 
fall  on  him:  He's  a  damned  miscreant  alway;  and  if  the 
Deity  think  other,  He  had  best  go  to  school  of  Our  Learned. 
Your  attitude  towards  Autocracy  is  easily  described:  a 
definite  concentrated  anathema  of  it;  there  is  no  difficulty 
in  writing  that  down.  But  no  human  pen  could  report 
what  you  mean  by  Democracy,  give  clear  account  of  your 
attitude  in  it.  When  head  is  indistinguishable  from  foot 
and  corpus  somersaults  distractedly,  no  man  can  say  which 
end  you  stand  on.  Your  body  and  your  soul  have  long  been 
seething  in  the  Melting  Pot,  where  shape  is  lost  awhile, 
ebullitions  noises  no  part  of  a  language.  Small  wonder  that 
the  notions  of  a  head  in  such  a  whirl  should  be  a  simmering 
heap  of  contradictions  and  absurdities,  a  wild  confused 
embroilment  of  utterly  chaotic  nonsenses,  with  Fixed  Ideas 
clung  to  in  hope  they  may  be  Reason.     Men  must  have 


REAL  CAUSES  173 

something  fixed;  with  nothing  known  so,  do  swear  these 
Ideas  are  polar,  and  the  world  revolves  on  them.  First 
fundamental,  therefore,  that  everything  shall  be  decided  by 
vote ;  notion  springing  from  and  leading  to  the  bottomless 
infidelity  that  things  will  be  as  voted.  Truth  and  Fact? 
"We  know  not  what  they  are,  yet  have  Opinion;  and  Major- 
ity's will  give  an  axis.  No  matter  that  the  stars  thus  lose 
all  certain  place  and  course ;  our  world  still  turns  and  turns 
on  something  of  its  own  contriving,  can  let  celestial  dance  at 
random.  Apparent  and  Real  motions :  Who  save  star-gazers 
cares  which  is  which?  The  world  travels  and  spins  in 
nothing  in  either  case,  no  man  feels  its  motion;  then  let 
ours  somerset  as  it  may,  'twill  still  give  ground  to  build  on. 
Your  Prophet  taught  the  duty  of  staying  at  home ;  and  in 
thus  providing  axis  for  our  world,  heedless  of  extraneous, 
we've  heard  well  bet  than  you.  Fixed  ideas  are  of  such 
various  sorts ;  and  the  most  unshakable  adherence  to  those 
of  this  sort  nowise  compels  a  man  to  mean  the  same  thing 
two  hours  together,  but  is,  of  course,  compatible  with  quite 
limitless  Freedom,  well  known  the  breath  of  life  to  De- 
mocracy. 

Here,  too,  you  have  taken  a  general  oath.  Namely,  that 
there  shall  be  no  actual  supreme  Authority  not  instantly 
amenable  to  popular  wind ;  that  Public  Opinion,  what  you 
call  the  Will  of  the  People,  shall  itself  be  the  supreme 
authority.  Neither  does  the  unattainability  of  any  such 
thing  in  the  least  disturb  the  fixity  of  idea.  One  admits, 
indeed,  at  once,  in  regard  to  the  first  part  of  the  oath,  that 
if  a  People  have  really  sworn  it  in  their  souls,  they  have 
raised  a  complete  bar  to  the  coming  of  any  noble  man  to 
authority  among  them ;  which  above  everything  else  re- 
moves all  bar  to  the  ignoble,  and  the  oath  in  whole  is  a  vain 
imagination.  For,  in  every  form  of  Government,  it  is  the 
men  who  have  by  what  means  soever,  been  voted  Chief,  and 


174  REAL  CAUSES 

not  the  men  who  voted  them  so,  who  are  the  Authorities. 
Choose  what  men  you  will  for  your  leaders,  and  choose 
them  by  what  method  you  will,  you  have  by  choosing  them 
leaders  surrendered  yourselves  to  their  guidance,  and  are 
no  more  your  own  masters ;  servants  obedient  or  mutinous, 
servants  to  the  blest  or  the  cursed,  you  may  be,  but  hence- 
forth servants.  In  your  inveterate  abhorrence  of  this  sub- 
jection, you  keep  up  a  theory  of  Sovereign  People  selecting 
Ministers  to  its  will ;  a  practice  of  noisy  contentious  persons 
persuading  the  People,  by  the  arts  they  are  forever  per- 
suaded by,  to  let  them  be  Chief,  with  promises  to  do  as  the 
People  bid  (having  before  explained  to  them  what  it  is 
desirable  for  them  to  bid)  and  consult  them  at  every  turn — 
which  cannot  be  got  round  without.  A  thoroughly  menda- 
cious arrangement,  flattering  base  repellence  of  control  with 
a  pretence  of  Your  obedient  lackey,  sir !  and  giving  control 
to  the  unlovely  tribes  who  wheedle  for  suffrage. 

Mob's  Fixed  Idea,  of  nothing  shall  compel  us,  is  thus 
retained ;  and  Political  Artists,  skillful  enough,  do  their  own 
sweet  will  with  naught  'twixt  selves  and  a  heaven  too  dis- 
tant hypothetical  to  hamper.  They  did  the  People's  also 
this  present?  I  fear  so;  yet  clearly  not  according  to  the 
Constitutional  Bargain :  The  Parliament  did  not  '  go  to  the 
country '  on  the  matter  of  this  war,  nor  were  elected  for  it. 
The  Cabinet  did  not  go  to  Parliament  upon  it,  save  super- 
ficially and  long  after  the  die  was  really  cast.  It  was  not 
the  People  that  slunk  behind  a  broad  and  open  Treaty 
guaranteeing  respect  for  Belgian  Neutrality,  to  make  a 
Private  Compact  for  certain  contingencies,  understood 
without  needless  specification;  and,  by  thus  bidding  for 
the  supposed  Neutral  to  take  side,  in  essential  fact,  first 
broke  the  Open  Treaty.  It  was  not  the  People  that  under- 
took to  protect  the  northern  coasts  of  France ;  thus  telling 
her:  Now,  practise  what  you  will,  you're  safe.     No  Sole 


REAL  CAUSES  175 

Despot  could  have  commanded  the  British  Empire  into 
(and  in)  this  war,  more  absolutely  than  the  present  Min- 
istry has.  /  am  far  enough  from  saying  that  the  Supreme 
Authority  ought  to  consult  the  People  at  every  step ;  only 
pointing  out  to  you  that  it  no  more  does  so  under  the  exist- 
ing regimen  than  any  other:  It  never  does,  or  can,  or 
should;  and  it  is  not  by  fidelity  to  Transparent  Humbug 
that  you  will  ever  be  better  led  or  commanded. 

To  men  of  another  kind  than  those  British  whose  soul's 
workings  have  wrought  this  war,  Autocracy  does,  by  dic- 
tionary meaning,  denote  the  rule  of  One  Man;  but  they 
have  nothing  to  do  with  magical  designation,  and  do  not 
instantly  conclude  the  One  a  cursed  miscreant;  have  no 
manner  of  objection  to  the  Single  Person,  simply  because 
single.  Those  British  are  fanatical  supreme  power  shall 
not  be  vested  in  One :  these  men  are  not  fanatical  it  must 
be ;  can  live  and  work  under  many  other  conditions ;  have  a 
marked  aversion  to  attempt  altering  any  tolerably  good. 

The  wisest  may  have  a  profound  conviction  that  the  One 
is  best,  when  rightly  attainable.  They  know,  by  direct  per- 
ception, that,  wherever  men  are  seriously  determined  upon 
accomplishing  aught,  command  by  One  is  the  rule  they 
spontaneously  fall  upon ;  that,  from  Parish  to  Empire,  the 
preference  of  Council  sans  sovereign  invariably  signifies 
more  desire  to  appear  important,  to  have  a  say,  than  to  get 
anything  whatsoever  done.  True  men  also  know  by  direct 
perception  and  the  devout  intuition  of  their  own  souls  that 
it  often  happens  that  one  man  is  incomparably  wiser  and 
nobler  than  all  other  men ;  that,  thus,  in  every  communion, 
from  the  Family  and  Business  to  the  State  and  Empire,  this 
of  Autocracy  is,  not  merely  expedient,  as  even  rogues  and 
most  worldly  men  can  see  it  to  be,  but  is  also  the  divine  law 
for  Society,  the  outcome  of  whatever  is  highest  and  deepest 


176  EEAL  CAUSES 

in  man,  as  well  as  the  instinct  of  his  common  sense  when  in 
earnest  about  anything.  That  the  chief  authority  be  every- 
where vested  in  One  is  a  thing  to  which  the  human  loyalties 
forever  trend;  and  Freedom's  Sons,  who  tolerate  no 
tyrant  are  just  precisely  they  who  live  and  die  for  him  their 
souls  revere. 

A  Just  Autocracy  really  is  the  thing  to  be  constantly 
striven  toward.  And  who  best  knows  this  is  most  patient 
with,  most  zealous  for,  any  Government  which  does  en- 
deavour to  do  the  will  of  heaven  upon  earth. 

If  the  word  Democracy  denotes  Rule  by  the  people,  it 
denotes  a  thing  non-extant  in  creation.  If  a  particular 
method  of  electing  officers :  there  are  many  worse  and  many 
better.  To  men  of  to-day  it  denotes  a  thing  undeniably 
existent,  which  they  have  studied  and  know  tolerably, 
though  to  define  it  they  may  confess  themselves  unable. 
The  chief  truth  it  demands  has  been  said  to  be  this :  That 
the  officers  shall  be  chosen  from  all  ranks  and  classes,  in- 
stead of  from  a  few  only.  The  final  abolition  of  Levi,  to  put 
it  whimsically.  Moses,  or  somebody,  decided  that  the  Sons 
of  Levi  should  be  priests  to  the  Hebrew  People,  they  and 
no  other.  A  very  primitive  plan !  yet  extensively  followed 
since,  with  modifications.  Can  you  tell  me,  for  instance, 
how  many  of  your  chief  Parliament  men  are  Sons  of  Attor- 
neys or  Attorneys  themselves?  Moses'  law  could  never,  on 
this  imperfect  earth,  have  been  without  exception ;  and  you 
see  that  much  the  same  result  is  still  reached  without  need 
of  the  House  to  pass  an  Act  restricting  entry  to  one  race. 
There  is  a  natural  law  in  this,  which  cannot  be  got  over, 
which  it  should  not  be  our  wish  to  get  over. — But  perhaps 
I  have  run  into  somewhat  of  an  Oliverian  simultaneity  here, 
and  had  better,  to  avoid  '  inextricableness, '  mark  the  two 
concurrent  ideas,  or  facts  separately.  (1)  It  is  the  inde- 
structible tendency  of  the  son  to  follow  the  father ;  and,  in 


REAL  CAUSES  177 

the  broad  general,  the  son  is  likeliest  to  be  fittest  to  succeed : 
Classes  and  ranks  will  thus  forever  spring ;  and,  so  long  as 
they  do  spring  free  from  nature,  may  be  blest.  (2)  The 
element  will  always  draw  its  own,  lift  none  save  its  own  to 
top  place,  bear  none  other  to  possible  victory ;  what  thing 
men  strive  for,  that  determines  who  strives  for  it;  and 
according  to  the  banner  raised  will  the  hosts  which  follow 
it  be:  Orders  of  exclusive  temper  and  Monopoly  of  Office 
by  men  of  a  certain  character  are  thus  perennial,  blest  or 
cursed  even  as  the  character  requisite  for  entry  is. — We 
cannot  get  over  these  facts,  and  should  never  aim  to.  To 
know  true  Breed  and  cherish  it  as  nature's  own  way  of 
producing  a  still  finer  race,  instinct  with  genius.  To  recog- 
nise intrinsic  worth  wherever  born  and  by  living  manful, 
speed  it  to  its  rightful  place  of  power.  Officers  chosen  from 
all  ranks  and  classes!  Is  there  not  an  ambiguity  here? 
Birth  in  palace  or  cot  not  to  decide.  Yes,  indeed,  to  keep 
the  gate  everywhere  open  to  the  true  heaven  born,  closed  on 
the  devil  begot.  But  integrity's  stamp  to  give  no  prefer- 
ence, and  gaol-bird  wing  as  free  a  flight,  borne  aloft  on  the 
Popular  Vote !  If  Democracy  mean  supremacy  to  the  noble, 
it  means  what  every  good  man  has  done  his  part  to  bring ; 
if  it  mean  clear  path  to  all  and  sundry,  it  is  a  wild  delusion, 
issuing  in  paved  road  to  the  damned,  shut  gate  to  the  godly : 
It  is  the  latter,  not  the  former,  that  it  means  in  current  dia- 
lect ;  and,  if  we  quite  refuse  to  leave  Autocrat  synonymous 
with  Cursed  Miscreant,  I  think  we  will  contentedly  leave 
Democrat  to  designate  a  dog  whose  day  we  pray  may,  in  the 
best  time,  be  ended. 

Many  teachers  have  you  had  praising  either  one  and 
cursing  'tother,  but  only  one  modern  that  taught  the  truth 
and  falsity  of  each  and  all.  Will  the  British  People  never 
learn  and  understand  how  their  Carlyle  was  a  believer  in 
the  French  Revolution  and  in  Cromwell  and  in  Friedrich, 


178  REAL  CAUSES 

first  made  all  these  truly  known  to  men ;  was  a  Radical  of 
Radicals,  a  Tory  of  Tories,  a  Labour's  Advocate  like  few, 
and  a  better  seeker  of  Justice  to  Ireland  than  any  partisan 
for  or  against  Home  Rule  ?  How,  in  all  those  seeming  con- 
tradictions they  continue  to  clash  internecine  about  and 
about,  he  so  long  since  found  a  living  harmony  and  revealed 
it  to  Avhoso  would  hear.  Perhaps  they  never  will ;  and,  as  it 
is  a  wearisome  business  to  me  to  keep  repeating  what  ought 
to  have  become  truisms  to  every  man,  so  to  them  very 
wearisome  to  hear  again  what  they  have  unanimously  decid- 
ed to  stop  their  ears  to.  Here  is  one  bit  of  adder's  wad- 
ding, from  Sir  E.  T.  Cook's  'Life  of  Ruskin, '  which  I  doubt 
not  will  match  your  own  wear :  '  Neither  Carlyle  nor  Ruskin 
have  told  us  how  to  get  the  rule  of  the  wise  without  liberty. ' 
There  is  a  hopelessness  about  such  a  remark  which  might 
legitimately  cause  some  of  us  to  stop  our  ears.  In  fancy,  I 
can  hear  some  that  have  heard  cry  instantly:  Of  the  man 
who  could  utter  this,  let  us  hear  no  more.  Statement  incon- 
trovertible, as  it  stands ;  yet  the  only  answer  really  needed 
to  italicise  without  liberty!  and  put  an  exclamation  mark 
instead  of  period.  Pity  is  that  one  cannot  put  a  period  in 
another  sense!  Carlyle  taught  that  we  should  each  of  us 
try  to  learn  a  little  for  himself  who  are  the  really  wise  and 
wherein  the  true  liberty  of  man  consists ;  neither  is  it  those 
who  have  heeded  his  words  that  find  them  insufficient. 
Cook  has  never  heeded  his  words  nor  tried  to  learn  either  of 
these  things.  '  I  expect,  as  almost  the  first  thing,  new  defi- 
nitions of  Liberty;  gradual  extinction,  slow  but  steady,  of 
the  stupid  " swarmeries"  of  mankind  on  this  matter,  and 
at  length  a  complete  change  of  their  notions  on  it.  .  .  .  The 
meaning  of  Liberty,  what  it  veritably  signifies  in  the  speech 
of  men  and  gods,  will  gradually  begin  to  appear  again  ? ' 1 
Pass  over  all  this  and  the  like  of  all  this,  let  no  word  which 
1  Shooting  Niagara  and  After,  Section  6. 


REAL  CAUSES  179 

issues  from  and  enters  soul  be  heard  by  you  except  as  bar- 
ren vocables,  continue  to  insist  that  liberty  shall  mean  what 
it  signifies  in  the  barking  of  dogs  and  the  buzzing  of 
swarms, — you  may  then  verily  say  Carlyle  has  not  taught 
you.  You  may  then  much  more  than  say  he  has  not  told 
how  the  rule  of  the  wise  can  be  got  without  liberty ;  for  he 
said  with  emphasis  enough,  it  could  by  no  possibility  be 
got  with.  But  this  also  will  not  do  for  you,  since  the  prior 
question  Who  are  the  wise?  has  also  been  passed  over  by 
you.  In  your  vain  impious  thought,  they  are  the  creatures 
of  your  choice ;  and,  by  God,  you  do  get  them. 

Cook  is  one  of  those  saluted  Teneriffe  with  what  con- 
strained grace  he  could  muster — Much  towering  majesty, 
all  sombre ;  some  wells  of  sweetness  might  be  found,  if  we 
dare  venture  land,  but  ominous  volcanic  rumblings  and 
dread  of  frightful  lightning  forbid  so  hazardous  a  step — 
soon  made  a  tack  and  sailed  free  ocean ;  relieved  from  close 
proximity,  shot  his  bolts  of  criticism  into  blank  air;  the 
favourite  practice.  Cook  is  one  of  those  who  has  gone  a  bad 
course.  Long  hanging  by  poor  Ruskin,  he,  in  highest  mat- 
ter, took  his  peddlings  for  sufficient  triumph ;  shunned  solu- 
tion. Persuaded  himself  Carlyle,  who  had  conquered  thor- 
ough before  he  ever  spoke  at  all,  had  never  fronted.  Since 
there  may  be  a  God,  'twill  be  the  prudent  way  to  act  as  if 
He  were :  for  thus,  in  either  case,  we  run  least  risk ;  if  none, 
small  loss;  if  Yea,  much  penalty  escaped.  And  faithful 
service  will  sure  reap  guerdon? — Is  it  desirable  to  pursue 
the  course;  or  comment  on  the  sequent  Zeal  for  111? 
Reader,  don 't  go  to  the  like  of  him  to  learn  Why  Britain  is 
at  War. 

No,  nor  to  learn  how  Carlyle  taught  that,  as  surely  as  in 
unjust  authority  may  be  lawfully  rebelled  against,  must  a 
just  be  established ;  with  what  a  wide  and  noble  wisdom  he 


180  KEAL  CAUSES 

has  shown  men  how  to  toil  to  bring  the  rule  of  the  wise  on 
earth  ivith  liberty  indeed. 

Modern  Democracy  was  born  of  Revolt  against  Effete 
Authorities.  It  is  usual  to  speak  of  it  as  a  revolt  against 
Tyrants,  Diabolical  Authorities;  the  Devil  nowise  effete; 
but  this,  in  strict  language,  is  hardly  correct.  The  general 
European  revolt  against  powers  of  an  actively  vicious  char- 
acter was  done  some  time  before ;  and  by  a  totally  different 
class  of  men,  theocrats,  not  democrats.  Our  Great  Rebel- 
lion ivas  against  tyrannical  authorities;  but  was  informed, 
withal,  by  a  positive  faith  which  was  true,  and  issued  con- 
spicuously in  the  Single  Person;  collapsed  partly  through 
vicious  hostility  in  itself  to  such  Person.  The  French  Revo- 
lution was  the  turning  out  of  hopelessly  impotent  authori- 
ties ;  was  informed  by  positive  faiths  which  were  mad,  and 
issued  conspicuously  in  a  Tyrant;  maintained  itself  by 
ready  obedience  to  his  most  arbitrary  will.  I  do  not  believe 
that  Democracy  ever  could  overthrow  the  disciplined  dia- 
bolical ;  but  that,  attempting  this,  it  would  always  find  itself 
a  writhing  worm  beneath  mailed  foot.  Oliver  and  Gustavus 
did  front  ranked  Powers  of  Hell,  and  gave  them  such  a 
punishment  they  have  never  been  dangerous  since, — or  till 
to-day.  But  the  properly  democratical  revolts  were,  as  they 
remain,  against  Futile  Authorities,  against  officers  who  had 
become  unbearable  from  sheer  Incompetence ;  against  obes- 
ity, sodden  rottenness,  no  alert  and  cunning  knavery  or 
Jesuitry,  no  Potency  of  Satan  in  what  form  soever ;  against 
Impotency  of  Bankrupt  Imposture. 

Democracy,  as  the  universal  tumbling  forth  of  masses  of 
men  to  swear  they  would  no  longer  tolerate  the  poisonous 
task  of  bearing  the  dead,  was  just,  even  divine ;  and  has  had 
its  due  degree  of  victory.  But  when  it  leaves  this  negation 
and  turns  to  assertion,  the  case  is  very  different.  Its  own 
positive  faiths  were  never  true ;  fanatical  superstitions  from 


REAL  CAUSES  181 

the  start  and  to  this  hour.  Let  it  cease  its  wild  and  humanly 
lawless  yet  lawful  Rage  of  Destruction,  to  become  a  highly 
organised  disciplined  community  inspired  by  a  Bedlam  and 
Missionary  Assertive  Faith,  resolved  that  its  superstitions 
and  idolatries  shall  be  the  belief  and  worship  of  mankind, — 
and  it  becomes  itself  all  that  it  once  fought,  and  professed 
to  fight  against ;  thoroughly  tyrannous,  and,  howsoever  tri- 
umphant awhile,  as  sure  as  God  lives,  completely  futile  also. 
Its  Rage  of  Destruction  will  then  be  chiefly  directed,  not 
against  the  rotten,  the  impotent  or  tyrannous,  but  against 
the  sound,  the  truly  regal,  potent  in  grace ;  and  it  will,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  ally  itself  with  its  ancient  foe  in  its  efforts 
to  crush  men  of  a  Faith  and  Practice  concordant  with  the 
Eternal's  law,  who  refuse  allegiance  to  its  blind  impieties. 
This  is  the  present  predicament  of  France  and  Britain; 
they  are  not  now  fighting  against  the  effete  or  diabolic  at 
all,  but  have  made  league  offensive  therewith  to  the  better 
wreak  their  spite  upon  the  sterling  human.  They  maintain 
the  old  war-cry,  speak  as  little  as  possible  of  their  conspir- 
acy with  whom  it  damns,  and  paint  of  their  opposite  a  pic- 
ture, to  justify  that  war-cry,  which  is  a  venomous  carica- 
ture without  one  feature  resembling  whom  it  is  meant  to 
represent. 

Take  this  extract  from  Carlyle's  Letter  on  the  French- 
German  "War  of  1870-71.  'One  does  understand  that  France 
'made  her  Great  Revolution;  uttered  her  tremendous  doom's 
'voice  against  a  world  of  human  shams,  proclaiming,  as 
'with  the  great  Last  Trumpet,  that  shams  should  be  no 
'more.  .  .  .  "Well  done,  we  may  say  to  all  that;  for  it  is  the 
'  preliminary  to  everything : — but  alas,  that  is  not  victory ; 
'it  is  but  half  the  battle,  and  the  much  easier  half.  The 
'infinitely  harder  half,  which  is  the  equally  or  still  more 
'  indispensable,  is  that  of  achieving,  instead  of  the  abolished 
'shams  which  were  of  the  Devil,  the  practicable  realities 


182  REAL  CAUSES 

'which  should  be  veritable  and  of  God.  That  first  half  of 
'the  battle,  I  rejoice  to  see,  is  now  safe,  can  now  never  cease 
'except  in  victory;  but  the  farther  stage  of  it,  I  also  see, 
'must  be  under  better  presidency  than  that  of  France,  or  it 
'will  forever  prove  impossible.  The  German  race,  not  the 
'Gaelic  are  now  to  be  Protagonist  in  that  immense  world- 
'  drama ;  and  from  them  I  expect  better  issues.  Worse  we 
'cannot  well  have.' 

The  British  race  might  have  worked  side  by  side  with  the 
German  in  this,  to  their  immense  mutual  furtherance.  But 
it  has  chosen  to  plot  counter ;  has  taken  unanimous  oath  it 
will  never  have  that  second  half,  will  do  its  utmost  in  fair 
and  foul  to  strangle  whomsoever  attempts  to  achieve  it.  It 
is  the  thing  which  the  souls  of  all  false  Britons  abhor  above 
everything  else ;  the  thing  they  will  not  have  while  they  can 
strike  to  stop  it.  And  as  for  shams!  They  cannot  stir,  they 
cannot  breathe  or  think  without  them:  witness  Ententes- 
witness  Royal  Will  per  order;  witness  that  black  pool  of 
horrors,  their  Religion.  God  save  the  Dummy  King,  and  all 
to  Church  in  company  is  their  one  marching  music. 

Of  the  greater  European  nations,  it  is  in  Germany  that  a 
Sovereignty  actual  and  veracious  alone  exists ;  and  its  exist- 
ence there  provokes  much  Franco-British  furor.  Which 
furor  is  a  Real  Cause  of  the  war.  But,  as  said,  to  what 
extent  Sovereignty  and  Democracy  are  at  issue  in  this  war 
depends  vastly  more  on  the  German  himself  than  on  his 
foes.  How  far  has  the  German  Nation  proved  victor  in 
that  second  harder  half  of  the  world-problem  ?  How  far  is 
it  loyal  to  the  Sovereignty  existent  in  it?  What  is  that 
Sovereignty 's  own  intrinsic  character  ?  It  may  be  that  the 
competency  or  incompetency  of  Germany  to  hold  her  own 
in  her  terrible  one-sided  struggle,  is  predetermined  by  the 
answers  to  these  questions;  that  her  strength  or  weakness 
would  be  known  if  we  knew  the  answers  perfectly.    I  may 


REAL  CAUSES  183 

be  sure  that  nothing  save  an  adequate  inner  victory 
achieved  before  can  bring  her  safely  through  this  encounter 
with  the  legions  so  monstrously  banded  against  her,  and 
have  grave  Dubiety  enough  as  to  the  adequacy :  Sufficiency 
in  that  kind  can  never  be  known  beforehand.  And  of  that 
later  on.  Meantime,  we  will  continue  to  look  at  elements  of 
this  claimed  battle  between  Autocracy  and  Democracy  in 
the  following  three  subsidiary  divisions : 

/.    German  Kaiser:  British  King 

It  certainly  is  in  Germany  alone  that  an  actual  and  vera- 
cious Sovereignty  still  exists;  and,  if  it  only  still  exists,  I 
have  no  hope  in  it.  In  that  case,  it  will  sooner  or  later  be 
swallowed  up  by  the  Democratical  deluge,  and  all  its  virtues 
cannot  save  it  from  that  fate.  However  true,  however  pre- 
cious, priceless  to  maintain  as  long  as  possible,  if  nothing 
more  than  a  Remnant  of  the  Past,  it  will  go  down :  Nothing 
is  surer  than  this;  that  such  is  the  Eternal's  Law  is  com- 
pletely apparent;  it  is  one  of  the  many  things  I  had  in 
mind  when  I  said  that,  in  spite  of  all,  the  British  might  in 
this  war  be  acting  from  an  instinctive  bias  in  accordance 
with  justice :  this  and  much  else,  I  had  in  mind,  as  well  as 
the  fact  that  heaven  makes  use  of  all,  and  the  deeds  of  the 
damned  fulfil  its  will.  If  the  Sovereignty  we  speak  of  as 
extant  in  Germany  is  such  as  can  continue,  can  itself  grow 
and  extend  its  sway,  it  must  be  such  as  can  cope  with  De- 
mocracy ;  in  those  beautiful  and  most  true  words  which 
Shakespeare  puts  into  the  mouth  of  his  Desdemona,  can 
subdue  Democracy  to  the  very  quality  of  its  Lord.  It 
must  be  as  such  as  has  itself  in  soul,  if  not  fully  conquered 
the  anarchies  of  the  day,  which  is  beyond  mortal,  yet  gained 
the  faith  which  can  front  and  wrestle  with  these  unfalter- 
ing, undespairing,  sure  of  ultimate  victory,  however  many 


184  REAL  CAUSES 

times  defeated.  You,  perhaps,  think  that,  because  it  roots 
in  the  past  and  has  survived  without  break,  therefore,  it 
has  only  survived,  and  can  be  but  a  Remnant:  A  most  piti- 
ful notion.  For  just  as  certainly  as  the  spirit  which  can 
really  Rule  to-day  must  be  of  to-day,  equal  to  the  present 
task,  so  certainly  must  it  also  root  in  the  Past ;  and  the  more 
richly,  the  more  directly  and  even  in  outward  respects  visi- 
bly, the  better. 

Meantime,  there  clearly  is  in  Germany  a  Man  acknowl- 
edged sovereign,  who  to  a  considerable  extent  is  sovereign 
and  does  command  his  nation.  He  is  no  Oriental  despot 
nor  Napoleonic  quack ;  has  not  unbounded  power  and  acts 
in  much  by  counsel;  yet  he  lives  and  rules  Free  Man,  no 
automaton  or  wire-pulled  puppet ;  has  native  Volition,  and 
exercises  authority  as  Almighty 's  vice-regent  in  lack  of  bet- 
ter, no  subject  of  nor  pandar  to  his  People's  passions:  And 
herein  is  Solitary.  Kaiser  Wilhelm  may  address  other 
crowned  heads  and  Presidents  as  his  Brothers  and  Cousins, 
but  in  fact  he  has  no  such  Brother  or  Cousin.  He  is  a  liv- 
ing reality  and  Man  on  the  Throne,  as  Emerson  might  put 
it;  stands  frankly  erect,  and  nobly  fills  a  Throne  so  built 
on  the  enduring  that  no  earthquake  or  atmospheric  concus- 
sion has  yet  succeeded  in  shaking  it.  They  are  Shadows  of 
a  vanished  prime,  gum-flowers,  upstarts  of  an  hour,  or  Dis- 
creet Heredities  carefully  schooled  in  the  poses  required  of 
them;  they  struggle  to  maintain  uncertain  footing  yet  a 
little  on  peaks  of  the  submerged,  blare  proudly  for  a  mo- 
ment ere  the  quicksands  swallow  them,  or  sit  still,  pleased 
with  eminence,  on  chair  with  much  effort  carried  steady, 
which  they  know  would  topple  if  they  stirred.  I  do  not 
know  that  the  American  Presidency  comes  under  this  de- 
scription :  It  is  different :  Faculty,  of  a  kind,  is  distinctly 
required  to  reach  it;  and  if  the  way  to  it  were  such  that 


EEAL  CAUSES  185 

Man  could  reach  it,  he,  once  arrived  there,  could  certainly 
be  seen  to  move,  no  property  Lepidus. 

Something  of  actual  Sovereignty  may  still  linger  in  Aus- 
tria, but  it  is  not  veracious.  It  is  cunning,  grasping;  lin- 
gers merely,  hangs  on  and  on  by  unscrupulous  tenacity  of 
grip,  resorts  to  absolutism,  and  holds  by  the  untenable ;  its 
counsels  are  of  night,  and  it  is  a  Remnant  only.  Being  evi- 
dently impotent,  it  did  not  excite  fear  in  the  British  who 
made  this  war;  obviously  mendacious,  roused  no  rage  in 
them.  Czar  may  have  the  name  of  Autocrat  but  is  much  of 
a  nullity ;  helpless  benetted  and  kept  in  leading  strings  of  a 
cunninger  sort  than  constitutional.  In  both  these  countries, 
it  is  scheming,  more  or  less  diabolical  personages  who  give 
command:  whatever  the  Peoples,  the  Governments,  remain 
bejesuited.  Italy's  monarchy  is  a  set  up  affair;  modelled 
by  pattern;  plastered  on  without  root,  and  little  struck 
since,  I  fear.  Italian  kings  have  their  allotted  functions  to 
perform,  win  hearts  by  exclaiming  The  pity  of  it !  when 
there  are  earthquakes,  of  inanimate  nature 's  producing,  and 
such  like :  fancy 's  likings  may  endear,  no  soul 's  fear  or  rev- 
erence cements.  The  French  Presidency  is  top  of  the  Bu- 
reau; and  who  climbs  thither  gesticulates  till  admirations 
weary,  or  an  envious  mine  explodes  him,  another  Engineer 
of  the  Sublime  mounts  aloft  for  praises'  sake.  Not  the 
Lord 's  praises  any  time,  and  engineering  somewhat  too  sub- 
lime this  present.  Of  the  British  more  particularly  in  a 
while :  '  Helpless  as  a  King  of  England, '  said  Emerson ; 
and  it  has  passed  into  a  proverb.  Nevertheless,  the  idea  of 
Constitutional  Nullity  is  not  quite  obtainable  in  practice ; 
and  flesh  and  blood  has  had  its  own  private  share  in  the  mis- 
chief. But  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  insist  on  this  fact, 
or  continue  to  enforce  it,  that  the  German  Kaiser  is  the 
sole  nominal  Chief  Officer  who  is  also  real.  Tabards,  toom 
or  stuffed,  abound,  and  we  have  many  who  can  strut  solemn 


186  REAL  CAUSES 

with  'insignia,'  or  adroitly  preserve  summit  and  counte- 
nance by  skill  in  the  conditions  of  allowed  tenure ;  but  here 
alone  does  king's  cloak  hang  careless  natural  upon  shoul- 
ders of  man  who  is  royal,  severe  or  gracious  as  his  own  soul 
prompts,  spontaneous  in  act  and  speech,  and  of  a  dignity 
inborn,  neither  learnt  nor  needing  to  be  kept  up. 

Not  requisite  that  I  should  insist  on  the  actuality  of  the 
German  Kaiser,  his  wnbenetted,  unhobbled  condition;  for 
rather  is  this  the  thing  which  you  of  the  opposite  pole  insist 
on,  swear  you  will  not  tolerate.  Frightful  to  contemplate, 
is  it  not?  a  king  and  manlike,  vigorous,  determined,  broad 
of  chest,  and  free  of  stride.  Sure  no  wild  beast  is  half 
so  dangerous.  If  such  a  one  be  loose  abroad,  there's  noth- 
ing safe.  Kings  should  scarce  presume  to  think  without 
state  doctor's  wise  prescription;  their  steps  should  all  be 
numbered  for  them  and  their  words  dictated,  choleric  meats 
avoided  and  everything  about  them  minced.  A  king  of 
shreds  and  patches  had  not  troubled  us  at  all.  For  then 
had  ours,  the  unsurpassable,  perfect  as  a  fashion  plate, 
glanced  brighter  yet  in  heightened  contrast.  If  we're  jeal- 
ous of  him,  instant  in  dire  threat  on  his  least  misdemeanour 
by  God  we  're  also  jealous  for  him :  He 's  our  highest  handi- 
work ;  and  we  will  not  see  him  shamed.  As  Joseph 's  sheaf 
stood  upright,  his  brethren's  bowed,  so  should  Britain's 
peerless  Apex  be  the  unattainable  to  cruder  effort ;  all  other 
nations  and  their  rubbed  darlings  confess  a  failing,  admit 
Alas!  yes;  some  flies  do  stick  to  them,1  thine  too  polished. 
A  cut  purse  of  the  Empire — !  Small  harm !  But  king  that 
gives  the  world  assurance  of  a  man, — he  is  the  abomination 
unendurable !  Not  from  out  the  legions  of  horrid  hell  nor 
all  the  realms  of  chaos  can  come  a  thing  like  damned  for 
monarch ;  better  any  cracked  vessel  of  dishonour  should  ride 

x'You  rub  them  with  wax,  and  the  flies  stick  to  them.'  Mahomet 
of  the  Koncish  Idols. 


REAL  CAUSES  187 

atop  than  he. — Such  is  indeed  your  faith  and  strenuous 
endeavour :  not  mine. 

As  I  just  now  reminded  you,  Modern  Democracy  did  not 
originate  in  revolt  against  the  like  of  this  Kaiser,  against 
actual  sovereignty  at  all,  either  good  or  evil,  but  against — 
well  against  old  cracked  vessels  of  various  sorts,  no  more  of 
honour.  There  it  was  just,  and  had  victory.  But  it  has 
now  passed  on  into  an  active  devilish  forbiddal  of  all  sov- 
ereignty: where  it  is  unjust,  and  sure  of  complete  defeat, 
in  the  course  of  centuries.  It  has  compounded  with  the 
mendacious  for  the  destruction  of  the  true,  and  become  it- 
self utterly  mendacious.  Which  fanatical  and  diabolical 
abhorrence  of  veritable  kingship  in  the  abstract,  eminent  in 
the  British  above  all  other  peoples,  has  been  greatly  accen- 
tuated by  having  a  concrete  exemplar  to  fasten  on ;  and  is, 
as  you  claim  it  to  be,  distinctive  among  the  Real  Causes  of 
this  war.  The  inevitable,  personal,  private,  antipathies  of 
Chief  Officers  who  are  only  nominal  to  any  who  is  actual 
are  also  all  countable  minor  causes,  again  most  pronounced 
in  the  British.  A  brave  soul  in  first  place  too  nominal  will 
not  have  this  antipathy.  Quite  reverse  wise !  He  will  feel 
kinship,  and  instinctively  seek  what  alliance  can  be.  Him- 
self, at  all  moments,  working  steadily  and  prudently  to 
make  the  office  fallen  to  him  more  of  a  living  truth,  less  of 
an  empty  grimace,  he  will  regard  any  other  so  striving  with 
fellowship  and  emulation.  But  little  men,  pleased  with  the 
fine  place  they  have  been  born  to,  or  had  the  luck  to  gain, 
are  almost  certain  to  be  riled  by  the  mere  existence  along- 
side of  them  of  a  man  who  fills  the  part  they  only  enact. 
Tempers  of  many  different  hues,  yet  each  complexion  mud- 
died by  one  common  grudge.  Pettish  dislike  may  be  in 
weakling  poppet,  whose  more  substantial  forebear  owed  a 
grimmer  discontent:  their  works  accordant.  There  is  the 
sourness  of  him  not  ever  void  of  capacity  had  the  stars  been 


188  REAL   CAUSES 

kinder,  own  share  of  will  ethereal  not  sunk  supine  in  very 
early  days,  for  other  wills  to  sear  the  brow ;  naturally  suc- 
ceeded by  the  more  tremulous  spite  of  him  who  could  in 
no  case  have  been  other  than  a  poppet. 

A  few  weeks  or  months  ago  my  eye  chanced  momentarily 
to  rest  upon  a  notice  in  a  newspaper  of  some  play,  I  think 
it  was,  by  one  of  the  miserable  zanies  the  British  are  pleased 
to  name  their  Chiefs  in  Literature.  A  very  vain,  flimsy, 
effeminate,  insubstantial  set  of  creatures,  Authors,  is  the 
prevalent  opinion ;  justified  by  the  samples  that  same  opin- 
ion lauds  the  highest,  and  none  it  cannot  so  contemn  will  it 
hearken  or  pay  heed  to.  Whom  our  souls  exalt  as  Gifted 
our  hearts  must  be  free  to  despise ;  for  we  owe  reverence  to 
no  man,  and  will  endow  with  honour  what  curious  faculty 
tickles  our  humour.  The  motley  throngs  of  scribblers 
courting  Public's  favour,  no  man  respects  them.  But  such 
as  come  to  note  have  surely  proved  themselves  the  best  of 
the  raff ;  fit  henceforth  therefore  to  be  granted  Oracles,  and 
safely  to  be  trusted  to  prophesy  things  pleasing.  Singu- 
larity, and  opposite  for  whim,  is  pleasing  too,  by  variety, 
and  nothing  dangerous.  "Which  things  are  simply  another 
manifestation  of  the  same  spirit  which  you  show  in  your 
King- worship :  you  show  the  same  spirit  everywhere. 

1  "The  Dynasts."  Mr.  So  and  So's  conception  of  the 
Hohenzollerns. '  I  had  not,  have  not,  read  the  conception 
and  did  not  the  comment  on  it, — nothing  save  the  headline 
just  given.  Reflecting  for  the  ten  thousandth  time  how 
ready  the  Lying  Prophets  of  your  choice  are  to  lie  to  any 
length,  in  any  kind  that  may  be  pleasing  to  you,  bring 
them  praise  and  half  pence;  how  greedily  the  unanimous 
mob  you,  I  am  afraid  too  truly,  name  the  British  Nation, 
cheer  the  grossest  nonsense  which  feeds  its  humour  at  the 
moment.  'The  Dynasts.  Mr.  So  and  So's  conception  of  the 
Hohenzollerns.'     Even  you,  and  Mr.  So  and  So  himself, 


REAL  CAUSES  189 

if  you  ever  paused  to  consider  what  you  were  saying,  would 
know  well  enough  there  never  was  Royal  Race  to  whom  the 
description  Dynasts  were  less  applicable.  It  is  no  matter, 
let  him  paint  it  camel,  weasel,  whale,  or  any  other  shape 
and  all  compounded,  so  long  as  daubed  for  contumely, 
you'll  swear  it  Hohenzollern  to  the  life.  They  are  the 
heaven  born  seers  can  please  you  so ;  and  of  a  surety,  they 
do  fool  you  to  the  top  of  your  bent, — much  better  than  if 
they  laughed  aside,  too  fooled  themselves  for  this. 

In  the  fabulous  histories  of  the  East,  one  hears  tell  of 
dynasties  lasting  for  thousands  of  years ;  generally  an  exact 
thousand,  or  perfect  mystic  period  by  some  other  count. 
The  days  of  men  are  predetermined,  but  more  faithful  ob- 
servation has  not  found  them  geometric  or  reducible  to  any 
law  of  numbers  known  to  us.  There  is  much  truth,  too,  in 
the  remark  that  fifty  years  of  Europe  are  more  than  a 
cycle  of  Cathay.  So  that  we  may  pass  over  the  Oriental 
long  bows,  and  ask  If,  in  the  authentic,  any  other  race  has 
stood  a  modest  arch  o'er  subject  men  as  long  a  term  as  this 
has?  It  is  in  the  middle  of  its  eighth  century  now;  and 
during  all  that  time  it  has  stood  unbroken  in  the  earthly 
sky.  From  small  beginnings,  continually  rising  and  en- 
larging, growing  ever  the  more  conspicuous,  the  Bond  of 
greater  numbers,  wider  territories.  Yet  nothing  magical 
has  gathered  round  it.  It  has  lasted  and  it  lasts  by  native 
worth  ever  still  valid  at  the  hour,  and  whoso  filled  the 
throne  has  personally  been  worthy  of  it.  Exceptions  doubt- 
less, the  virile  force  has  flagged,  but  it  has  never  departed ; 
the  sources  of  life  have  never  been  poisoned  or  blasted  by 
any  of  the  fatal  infections  so  normal.  I  italicise,  yet  noth- 
ing magical  has  gathered  round  it;  for  the  fact  is  wonder- 
ful, and  of  highest  testimony.  Races  of  far  shorter,  yet  con- 
siderable continuance,  have  early  in  their  date  sunk  beyond 
hope  of  redemption  in  the  imagination  of  a  peculiar  ap- 


190  REAL  CAUSES 

pointment  bestowing  merit,  have  ceased  to  rule  in  an  instant 
right  and  acted  in  the  supposition  of  an  occult  title.  The 
Austrian  has  for  ages  been  flawed  by  this;  the  whole  wild 
effort  to  maintain  the  Stuarts  was  informed  by  this;  yea, 
whatever  of  loyalty,  which  can  in  any  sense  be  called  gen- 
uine, still  remains  toward  the  present  British  Monarchy  is 
nothing  but  an  aftershine  of  this,  found  in  the  'proper' 
people  alone.  It  began  much  earlier  in  Britain,  for  it  is 
the  damning  thing  laid  bare  in  Shakespeare's  Bichard  II, 
then  partly  cast  out  for  a  season,  but  of  such  a  deadly  subtle 
virulence  that  where  it  has  once  got  hold,  hope  is  almost 
over.  Oliver  indeed,  had  banished  it  forever ;  but  ye  would 
not.  And  in  these  Hohenzollerns  or  their  People  it  has 
never  struck  dangerous  root :  the  demerit  of  its  finding  soil 
to  grow  in,  the  merit  of  perpetual  wither,  is  always  shared 
by  King  and  People.  To  this  day  these  Hohenzollerns  are 
homely,  simple,  plain  and  downright ;  frank  Men  in  Nature 
and  true  sons  of  earth :  the  fresh  air  of  heaven  has  as  free 
a  passage  through  their  halls  as  through  the  humblest  hut. 
They  do  not  live  in  a  vain  show,  and  have  never  done  so : 
some  few  of  the  race  have  tried  it,  and  the  next  generation 
packed  the  whole  out  of  doors.  Their  People's  loyalty 
affectionate,  substantial;  trusting  Man,  not  worshipping  a 
Suit  of  Clothes.  And  this  is  a  wonderful  thing  in  a  long 
line  of  Kings ;  unique  I  believe,  not  elsewhere  to  be  matched 
at  all.  It  is  common  in  the  Founders  of  a  Line ;  indeed  it  is 
bound  to  be  in  every  genuine  Founder ;  But  how  often  has 
it  lasted  more  than  two  or  three  generations  ?  The  Hohen- 
zollern  race  differs  here,  too,  in  that  it  never  had  any  very 
conspicuous  Founder,  but  only  a  quiet  succession  of  Build- 
ers. It  did  not  spring  suddenly  into  first  rank  by  the  might 
of  a  single  genius,  and  thereafter  dwindle,  but  grew  slowly 
from  private  station  to  regal  and  imperial.  It  has  emerged 
and  grown  massively  with  base  always  amply  wide  in  pro- 


REAL  CAUSES  191 

portion  to  height;  the  leading  characteristics  solidity,  ster- 
ling worth,  rather  than  brilliant  gift  or  qualities  to  be  called 
supreme,  though  these  have  not  been  wanting ;  and,  on  the 
whole,  it  has  been  constantly  equal  to  its  day.  Born  to 
king's  seat  generation  after  generation,  and  still  filling  it 
as  natural  right  and  heaven 's  true  vice-regent  to  commend- 
able extent ;  degrading  Pride  of  Peace,  Inflation  of  Rank  or 
office,  never  able  to  shell  in;  life  still  led  in  contact  with 
the  stern  realities  and  Existence  felt  the  supreme  fact,  be- 
fore which  all  distinctions  of  man 's  making  melt  into  noth- 
ing !  It  is  evidence  at  least  of  a  great  virility,  of  a  Sound- 
ness of  Health,  vitality  and  incapacity  of  delusion  very  re- 
markable. Tenfold  the  more  remarkable  when  we  remem- 
ber that  this  simplicity  and  veracity  was  retained  and  shone 
out  heroical  through  a  season  when  every  other  crowned 
head  had  become  the  sorriest  histrio,  yet  survives  the  sweep 
of  Democracy's  besom  applied  so  furiously  to  them. 

Dynasts!  Men  that  have  sought  their  own  aggrandise- 
ment and  thought  to  perpetuate  their  glory's  name!  We 
have  had  plenty  of  these.  Here  the  perhaps  completest 
antipodal  that  history  records.  Men  that  have  thought 
much  and  earnestly  of  many  things,  and  gravitated  aright. 
Men  that  have  as  simply  and  diligently  sought  to  do  man- 
fully in  the  sphere  they  were  born  to  as  any  day  labourer ; 
the  sum  of  whose  labours  the  heavens  have  visibly  confirmed 
honest,  and  faculty  competent.  The  Stewardship  commit- 
ted to  them  they  have  faithfully  endeavoured  to  discharge ; 
and  the  Bank  of  their  Capacity  has,  with  whatever  strain, 
been  able  to  respond  to  the  calls  made  on  it.  That  Bank 
has  not  yet  been  broken;  neither  have  they  yet  forgotten 
that  they  are  Stewards  or  Whose.  In  saying  thus  much,  I 
keep  well  within  the  bounds ;  and  shall  say  no  more  of  the 
Race. 


192  EEAL  CAUSES 

For  the  Individual,  Kaiser  Wilhelm  II,  I  believe  him  to 
be  one  of  the  more  notable  members  of  his  Family ;  superior 
to  any  who  has  carried  on  the  line  since  the  Great  Fried- 
rich  ;  such  a  one  as  every  true  German  may,  from  the  bot- 
tom of  his  heart,  thank  God  for  having  this  present.  I  have 
never  attempted  to  take  his  measures ;  my  own  conception 
of  him  is  still  in  growth,  and  I  am  not  troubled  with  Emer- 
sonian needs  to  put  at  a  focal  distance.  True,  one  can 
retire  into,  or  stay  in  (a  much  harder  task)  one's  universal 
relations;  see  him  a  man,  oneself  another.  But  there  is 
nothing  full  or  complete  in  the  mental  picture  I  have 
formed  of  him;  I  yet  learn  what  he  is,  and  cannot  speak 
of  him  from  any  other  standpoint.  Concerning  the  Living 
who  are  of  worth,  one  wishes  sure  enough  to  know  whatever 
one  can  know,  yet  rather  avoids  than  seeks  finality. 

To  me  this  Kaiser  has  been  subject  of  meditation  ever 
since  I  had,  or  began  to  have  a  man 's  thought  of  anything. 
An  Entity  of  whose  simultaneous  existence  on  the  planet 
one  has  always  been  more  or  less  conscious  and  unfeignedly 
rejoiced  in ;  once  known  there,  unforgettable.  Far  removed, 
invisible  or  half  visible,  whom  one  could  so  wish  to  see  full 
face  to  face,  know  through,  but  has  only  been  able  to  catch 
momentary  glimpses  of;  yet,  certainly,  in  the  course  of 
time,  has  got  to  know  better,  if  not  well.  Keep  eyes  and 
ears  open,  if  your  heart  be  so,  you  will  discern  somewhat  of 
the  actual  man.  A  king  and  fellow  mortal  to  whom  one  has 
ever  silently  said  Euge!  confident  of  genuine  man;  has 
watched  with  admiration  and  with  brotherly  pity;  stout 
soul  in  excessively  difficult  and  perilous  position,  daily  bait- 
ed with  provocations  scarce  endurable ;  yet  erect,  with  rage 
restrained,  speaking  and  doing  as  in  a  royalty  unchallenged, 
fully  owned. 

The  newspapers,  foul  with  hideous  cartoons,  native  or 
imported  from  America,  and  every  vulgarest  insolence  to- 


EEAL  CAUSES  193 

ward  the  Kaiser,  published  the  other  day  a  beautiful  and 
evidently  true  child-portrait  of  him;  Editors  and  Public 
alike  unconscious  in  their  soddenness  how  this  gave  the  lie 
to  the  cartoons  and  comments.  A  slight  thing  may  be,  yet 
worthy  note.  A  fine  little  face,  so  earnest  and  intent, 
already  full  of  character  and  open  as  the  day.  British  man 
or  woman,  him  or  herself  of  pure  soul,  capable  to  know  the 
Children  of  Men  from  those  of  Belial,  looking  on  it,  might 
have  paused  astonished,  deeply  questioned.  This  the  seed- 
ling of  World-Ogre?  It  bears  its  truth  to  nature  on  its 
face,  is  undeniably  the  real  child ;  those  ogre  portraits,  car- 
toon and  written,  Where  can  one  find  in  them  the  least  self- 
evidence  of  resemblance?  They  are  undeniably  the  ribald 
mock  of  souls  obscene  that  revel  in  profanity.  Germany's 
print  shops  and  daily  press  teem  with  the  like  horrors? 
Yes ;  but  that  is  not  your  complaint,  or  cause  of  war  with 
her.  Your  complaint  is  that  there  is  still  in  her  a  man,  and 
men  can  lay  restrictions  on  the  Beast,  rein  it  whither  it 
would  not;  and  divine  mission  to  disseat  the  same,  that 
there  be  no  nation  left  wherein  the  lawless  brute  does  not 
bellow  supreme.  Were  the  Kaiser  but  reduced  to  cipher,  his 
peers  well  hamstrung,  the  Reichstag's  Choir  might  sing  as 
much  in  harmony  with  the  Holy  Ones  of  Westminster  as 
the  gutter  tribes  of  either  nation  do  already :  Uproar  of  one 
tenor  then  going  up  to  heaven  from  all  throats  high  and 
low,  Briton  and  Teuton. 

It  was  as  a  boy  at  school  that  I  first  remember  to  have 
neard  the  present  Kaiser  mentioned ;  presumably  either  at 
the  time  of  his  grandfather's  death  or  during  the  close 
following  last  illness  of  his  father.  Talk  by  the  masters, 
in  the  vein  then  current,  instructing  youth.  For  his  father, 
of  course,  was  all  that  man  should  be ;  a  mild  and  pattern 
king,  harmless  as  a  dove,  and  almost  to  be  called  Emman- 
uel; whom  pious  England  prayed  might  live,  long  keep  a 


194  REAL  CAUSES 

son  marked  dark  and  dangerous  from  seat  of  majesty. 
Such  was  the  vein  then  current,  though  Frederick  also 
probably  had  features  of  a  man.  One  simply  listened, 
knowing  nothing;  went  away,  however,  with  precisely  the 
opposite  impression  to  that  which  the  Masters  purposed  to 
convey,  and  a  strong  inclination  to  take  Master  "William's 
part — for  he  was  spoken  of  as  if  still  in  his  teens ;  and  we 
all  know  how  long  the  British  struggled  against  admitting 
that  he  had  ever  reached  majority.  The  adulation  of  the 
father  did  not  ring  true ;  in  fact  it  was  obviously  a  cant, 
flowing  more  from  dislike  of  the  son,  or  other  interested 
motive,  than  like  of  him;  whilst  the  contemptuous  slur  of 
the  son  was  of  a  quality  that  instantly  roused  incipient 
contradiction  in  ingenuous  pupil,  left  a  permanent  question 
whether  he  were  not  really  the  right  one.  Nathless  I  believe 
that  all  except  one  of  my  school-fellows  unhesitatingly 
lapped  up  the  Master's  account,  that  that  one  fell  in  with 
it  in  after  years ;  and,  if  still  in  life,  he  is  probably  fighting 
at  the  front  this  moment.  Fighting  at  the  front,  for  he  was 
in  the  army,  with  such  faith  and  strength  as  belongs  to  a 
man  who  had  to  follow  the  world's  opinion  rather  than 
lose  its  prizes:  Well,  he  will  not  be  lonely  there  anyway. 
They  do  crowd  to  the  colours  at  Mr.  Asquith's  bidding; 
but  it  is  by  world's  opinion  and  no  soul's  conviction. 

Later  on  one  began  to  gain  notions  a  little  more  distinct, 
though  still  very  vague.  If  you  have  the  natural  instinct 
to  leave  noise  and  lies  as  noise  and  lies,  you  may  gleam 
fragments  of  fact  even  from  the  newspapers  and  general 
babblement  of  men,  as  surely  as  without  it  nine-tenths  of 
those  your  persuasions  which  you  believe  most  soundly 
based  on  reason,  will  be  nothing  save  a  consolidated  sedi- 
ment of  popular  delusion.  Interest  was  quickened  at  the 
time  of  the  Jameson  Raid,  which  had  been  so  atrocious  if 
the  paltriness  of  its  perpetrators  had  not  brought  it  to  the 


EEAL  CAUSES  195 

borders  of  the  farcical;  of  its  iniquitous  condonement  at 
home,  done  to  shield  deeper  movers  who  could  not  have 
been  pardoned  as  milkbeards,  making  each  honest  Briton 
feel  as  if  he  ought  to  hide  his  head  in  shame;  of  the 
universal  bawl  which  burst  out  in  England  at  the  Kaiser 
for  expressing  the  sentiments  of  every  man  of  probity.  I 
observed  well,  how,  when  the  news  of  that  Kaid  reached 
England,  astonished  indignation  was  the  emotion  sponta- 
neously excited  in  every  Gentleman 's  breast ;  how  miserably 
these  shuffled  round  as  soon  as  they  found  that  the  West- 
minster Beauties  and  Press  Editors  took  a  different  view. 
It  is  thus  in  all  matters :  there  is  no  sterling  integrity,  and 
the  nation  will  in  anything  dance  as  it  is  piped  to.  The 
Pipers  do  not  sorrow ;  their  ideal  is  that  it  should :  Public 
opinion  is  the  wind ;  their  part  to  raise  it,  and  command  the 
stops  of  the  instrument  which  renders  it  into  articulate 
music.  It  was  in  that  spring  of  1896  that  I  chanced  for  the 
first  time  to  see  a  thoroughly  good  portrait  of  Kaiser  Wil- 
helm  and  to  read  some  authentic  speeches  of  his,  with  by  ac- 
cident a  very  great  effect  on  my  own  life.  For  I  was  in 
perplexity.  Not  indeed  doubting  of  Eternal  Justice,  of  the 
possibility  of  any  one  individual  man  living  a  life  of  noble- 
ness, nor  afflicted  with  the  least  disposition  to  give  up  one 's 
own  private  endeavours  in  that  direction,  but  wholly  doubt- 
ing, disbelieving  in,  the  slightest  outward  result  from  this. 
Saying :  There  is  Carlyle  has  just  lived  in  this  very  city  as 
heroical  a  life  as  ever  any  did ;  and,  so  far  as  the  world  is 
concerned,  he  might  just  as  well  have  never  been  born.  Is 
there  any  compulsion  to  continue  an  effort  sure  to  prove 
futile?  And  since  a  little  passivity  would  close  the  scene 
why  not  let  it?  The  sight  of  that  portrait,  say  rather  of 
that  man,  for  it  was  such,  and  convincing,  cracked  the  spell, 
which  was  speedily  broken.  There  is  a  vigorous  activity 
not  futile.    None  may  have  heard  Carlyle,  yet  his  influence 


196  REAL  CAUSES 

is  beyond  all  reckoning.  Each  in  his  sphere  must  do  as  he 
can,  not  be  found  faithless :  that  is  his  duty,  not  weighing 
result;  and,  though  no  outer  victory  may  be  visible,  the 
harvests  are  reaped  there  too.  On  which  account  I  have 
often  since  said  to  myself,  half  in  jest,  half  earnest,  that 
His  Imperial  Majesty  Kaiser  Wilhelm  once  saved  my  life : 
Which  he  really  may  honestly  be  said  to  have  done  as 
much  as  if  he  had  jumped  into  the  sea  and  hauled  me  out 
from  drowning;  and,  though  no  Humane  Society  grants 
medals  for  these  silent  and  unconscious  acts  of  heroism,  I 
remain  convinced  they  are  quite  infinitely  the  more  meri- 
torious. I  have  never  before  publicly  owned  such  indebted- 
ness, but  coming  to  speak  of  him  now  do  not  forbear 
reporting  this  little  private  experience,  make  of  it  what  you 
may.  The  same  evening  was  spent  with  a  German  lady  who 
then  and  subsequently  showed  me  more  than  she  knew, 
not  of  the  Kaiser  alone.  Henceforth  one  directly  knew  at 
least  one  living  man  who  was  battling  for  the  nobly  human, 
and  who  was  not  altogether  unsupported  by  a  loyal  peerage, 
by  a  loyal  leaven  in  all  ranks,  however  much  impeded  by  a 
disloyal  leaven  in  all  ranks,  jealous  of  Sovereign  Power  and 
diligent  to  oppose  it  at  every  turn. 

Passing  on  to  the  other  times,  for  the  above  was  before  I 
had  read  Carlyle's  Friedrich;  when  so  far  as  I  knew 
(misknew)  anything  at  all  of  German  history  it  was  as  the 
orthodox  falsehoods  had  taught  and  some  words  of  Carlyle  's 
own  in  his  earlier  writings  had  led  me  to  imagine  that 
he  confirmed.  Eevolving  things  in  obscure  corner,  I  con- 
stantly could  not  escape  the  feeling  that  this  Kaiser  was 
raised  up  by  Providence  for  something  great,  world  not- 
able, probably  War  with  Britain.  And  I  confess  to  many 
an  involuntary  prayer  that  it  might  come  in  his  time,  if 
come  it  must.  For  the  Briton  who  to-day  attains  a 
manhood  alive  to  the  Eternal  Interests  must  have  passed 


REAL  CAUSES  197 

through  the  terrible  school  where  he  has  had  in  a  sense  to 
renounce  his  country,  if  in  another  sense  he  have  found  it 
again.  The  Land  we  are  born  in,  the  Race  we  are  of,  they 
are  by  nature  dearer  to  us  than  all  others.  But  woe  to 
him  to  whom  they  are  dearer  than  Truth  and  Justice. 
There  is  a  Prime  Duty  which  makes  nationality  naught, 
and  Man  is  more  than  country-man.  If  the  People  to 
which  we  belong  have  rejected  the  highest  and  turned  to 
the  service  of  Belial,  we  cannot  wish  them  success  in  that 
course.  If  our  country  have  deliberately  spurned  alliance 
with  the  Better,  entered  into  League  with  the  Worse,  our 
sympathies  cannot  be  with  it  in  the  struggle  thus  brought 
on.  Could  not  escape,  I  say.  For  I  recoiled  utterly  from 
the  thought  that  high  soul  and  character  should  not  be 
content,  might  not  as  much  be  raised  up  by  Providence,  to 
work  in  peace  unnoted  and  as  blest.  But  the  fact  is, 
remarkable  men  do  almost  necessarily  evoke  remarkable 
events.  Alas,  when  public  men,  they  can  hardly  avoid 
doing  so,  even  when  they  most  wish  it.  Any  thought  that 
this  Kaiser 's,  or  any  man 's,  faculty  were  wasted  if  his  life 
passed  in  peace,  unmarked,  had  been  most  impious;  the 
presentiment  that  his  existence  there  would  inevitably  tend 
to  raise  the  antagonism,  would  precipitate  conflict  may  have 
been  veridical.  But  prescience  is  by  whole  fact,  and  any 
reason  you  can  articulate  is  but  a  part. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  attempt  any  portrayal  of  Kaiser  Wil- 
helm's  character.  I  simply  see  a  man  of  very  sterling 
quality  born  into  exceedingly  difficult  and  perilous  position 
and  doing  his  own  level  utmost  there  right  manfully; 
whom  therefore  alone  every  brave  man  must  regard  with 
admiration,  love  and  sympathy,  even  were  all  question  of 
his  Capacity  and  Equipment  for  that  position  to  be  left 
out  of  count.  Suppose  him  unequal  to  the  post, — as  who 
is  there  could  say  he  were  fully  equal  to  it? — sympathy 


198  REAL  CAUSES 

would  the  more  go  out  to  an  honest  one  so  strenuously  en- 
deavouring to  do  his  best  in  it  and  who  had  never  sought 
it,  but  was  in  honour  bound  to  step  into  it  and  do  what 
he  could  there.  Had  the  British  plea  ever  been :  He  is  most 
worthy  of  esteem  and  our  valour  honours  his,  yet  in  this 
and  that  we  cannot  find  him  right,  must  needs  withstand, 
there  might  have  been  a  case  for  hearing ;  and  certainty  of 
at  least  one  ready  to  listen,  namely  the  Kaiser  himself. 
But  their  plea  has  ever  been :  Damn  his  eyes  for  doing  his 
utmost.  Why  can't  he  take  pattern  by  our  Discreet  Cipher, 
do  nothing?  That  he  has  done  his  utmost  is  precisely 
what  proves  to  us  his  entire  unfitness  for  the  post  he 
occupies.  God  blast  all  kings  that  are  not  nullities !  Well, 
leave  the  dogs  to  their  barking,  and  speak  of  man  to  men. 
In  that  matter  of  his  Equipment,  with  him  as  with  all, 
his  inner  spiritual  light  and  soul's  faith  in  eternity  is 
first  and  foremost;  and  it  is  a  thing  of  which  I  have 
gradually  gained  some  knowledge,  though  no  complete. 
From  many  an  utterance  of  his  own  I  have  gathered  pretty 
well  how  he  stands  in  that  respect. 

First,  then,  he  is  authentic,  genuine,  here,  and  that  he 
publicly  professes  his  soul  does  believe.  As,  not  genuine 
here,  he  could  not  be  so  elsewhere.  'Deeply,  we  feel  it, 
once  smitten,  the  Tremendous.'  An  awestruck  piety 
dwells  deep  in  that  man's  heart.  In  his  truest,  most 
unfeigned  consciousness,  life  is  earnest,  holy,  fearful  to 
him,  and  it  is  Deity  commands  him  do  his  duty.  His 
view  of  the  universe,  man's  life  and  his  own  task  is  alto- 
gether human. 

'Stars  silent  rest  o'er  us, 
'Graves  under  us  silent! 

'Whilst  earnest  thou  gazest, 
'Comes  boding  of  terror. 


REAL  CAUSES  199 

'Comes  phantasm  and  error; 
'Perplexes  the  bravest 
'With  doubt  and  misgiving. 

'But  heard  are  the  Voices, 

'Heard  are  the  Sages, 

'  The  Worlds  and  the  Ages : ' 

These  words  of  the  German  he  could  repeat  as  they 
were  uttered;  and  his  soul  is  not  vitiated  with  pretence, 
nor  is  his  worship  a  decorum.  He  frequently  appeals  to 
God ;  and,  if  the  dialect  be  not  quite  thine  or  mine,  we  may 
know  his  appeal  heartfelt  and  in  nothing  spurious.  Neither 
have  I  the  least  doubt  that,  had  there  been  a  living  sage 
beside  him  who  did  stand  intelligently  free  Man  in  Nature, 
himself  had  so  stood,  and  many  a  thing  been  vastly  clearer 
to  him.  This  is  saying  very  much.  On  the  other  hand, 
many  of  his  own  utterances  tell  me  that  he  does  not  entirely 
so  stand,  still  holds  a  little  by  things  we  must  not  hold  by, 
They  are  the  very  light  of  the  earth  can  declare  our  Faith 
purely,  without  alloy ;  and  one  does  not  quite  look  for  the 
Inspired  Seer  in  the  Practical  King.  If  his  Equipment 
in  this  particular  be  fairly  the  highest  to  be  had  in  the 
shops  about  and  sterling  honest,  he  may  more  than  pass 
muster.  No  developed  Briton  could  be  genuine  in  holding 
never  so  slightly  by  some  of  the  things  the  Kaiser  holds 
by.  To  answer  "Why?  would  lead  us  far.  I  will  only 
say  of  Transitions :  That  these  may  proceed  insensibly,  with- 
out disruption,  if  they  have  been  taken  in  time,  if  the 
new  have  sprung  well  before  the  old  have  become  hopelessly 
unsound;  whilst  if  delayed  till  the  old  have  got  poisoned 
through  they  cannot  so  proceed;  whereby  it  may  even 
happen  that  in  a  country  of  the  unsound,  perhaps  incurable, 
units  have  advanced  further  than  any  in  a  country  of  the 
sound,  though  there  alone  is  the  mass  progressing  and 


200  REAL  CAUSES 

recovery  to  perfect  health  still  hopeful.  And  I  leave  you 
to  reflect  whether  this  affords  explanation  at  all  of  many 
phenomena,  spiritual  and  political,  in  Germany  and  Brit- 
ain. To  me  it  has  sometimes  seemed  to  do  so,  but  I  have 
no  restful  assurance  how  far. 

The  Kaiser  is  genuine  in  his  Religious  Belief  though, 
withal,  aware  that  things  are  in  transition,  uncomfortably 
conscious  of  a  debatable  land  where  footing  is  very  un- 
certain, could  so  active  and  decisive  a  soul  admit  uncertain- 
ty. By  his  manful  life's  effort,  he  too  is  helping  to  pave 
the  way  to  the  undebatable  when  a  man's  religion  shall 
again  be  wholly  a  great  Unquestionability  to  him.  Alas! 
alas!  look  at  our  own  public  men!  Is  there  among  them 
one  whom  you  can  so  much  as  name  at  all  in  this  relation  1 
The  Kaiser  has  showed  himself  to  me  in  this  as  a  strong 
man  zealously  wishing  the  inarticulate  intuition  of  his  soul, 
where  a  great  unquestionability  is  thoroughly  recognised 
to  be,  were  articulated  for  him,  in  haste  to  act  thereon; 
praying  for  faith  as  only  the  piously  valiant  can,  and  some- 
times, urged  by  need  to  have  it  clear  for  deed  this  day,  per- 
haps rather  too  ready  to  take  what  solution  was  offered,  or 
drive  down  a  pile  of  his  own  in  the  shaking  morass.  Very- 
admirable  in  the  supreme  need  to  have  a  firm  ground  to 
stand  on.  Very  lovable  in  his  attempts  to  attain  it,  though 
I  would  not  always  recommend  another  to  try  building 
on  those  piles.  Like  Friedrich  Wilhelm,  he  could  laugh, 
too,  if  he  woke  some  morning  to  see  them  all  tumbling  on 
the  floods.  He  would  so  fain  have  had  final  solution,  and 
an  end  to  doubts;  has  found  this  scarcely  obtainable — in 
the  shops  about,  yet  by  the  powerful  elective  affinity  of  his 
own  true  being  has  drawn  nigher  to  the  one  true  Revela- 
tion; never  cowardly  compromised  or  dallied  with  the 
Jesuit,  but  stood  ever  resolved  this  moment  by  the  light  he 
had.    Strong  indeed  in  the  might  of  a  soul  turned  honestly 


REAL  CAUSES  201 

Godward;  and,  if  sometimes,  confused  by  Fable,  dimmed 
by  passion,  ever  profoundly  known  that  a  living  God  does 
reign  and  men  must  quit  themselves  as  men. 

The  difficulties  of  his  Political  position  are  more  utter- 
able.  In  name  a  King,  under  the  World — Avatar  of  De- 
mocracy, and  not  to  be  puppet  of  his  ministers  but  King  in 
verity  so  far  as  able!  Is  there  not  in  that  predicament, 
determination  enough  to  tax  the  strength  and  temper  of 
any  most  Christian  Hercules  ?  And  he  has  never  pretended 
to  be  more  than  a  man  of  like  passions  and  infirmities. 
Democracy  is  rampant  in  Germany  as  elsewhere;  and 
British  spleen,  world's  rage,  that  it  is  not  yet  paramount 
there,  that  the  human  does  still  struggle  for  sovereignty 
there.  To  be  endeavouring  the  just  and  not  the  tyrannous, 
in  noble  brotherhood,  co-ordination,  diligent  for  state's 
weal,  and  be  everywhere  confronted  by  the  smiling  inso- 
lence of  demagogues,  strong  in  the  might  of  their  law, 
whose  chief  est  pleasure  is  to  veto,  vex,  annoy,  teach  Maj- 
esty his  dependence  on  their  sweet  will.  Perpetual  baffle 
and  every  sort  of  exasperation  with  just  a  little  headway 
here  and  there!  Some  spurts  of  impatience  are  not  won- 
derful, if  perhaps  the  normal  restraint  is.  Thou,  my 
friend,  had'st,  most  probably,  run  quite  amok.  There  is 
a  touch  of  this  in  one  of  those  "White  Paper  despatches, 
where  a  German  Minister  regrets  to  a  British  that  his 
Kaiser  had  come  home  suddenly  on  his  own  initiative;  not 
asking  the  Minister's  wise  advice.  There  is  plenty  of  such 
in  other  despatches  by  German  Ministers  to  British,  not 
to  speak  of  those  between  themselves.  Dear,  dear,  there 
he  goes  again!  Alack!  Who  can  lay  proper  bridle  on 
him?  But  you,  dear  brethren,  happier,  we  do  confess,  in 
having  tamer  hack  in  harness,  and,  doubtless  too,  that 
beast 's  perfect  step,  the  envy  of  less  lucky  grooms,  betokens 
finer  skill  in  you,  the  drivers,  breakers  in — but  yet  you'll 


202  REAL  CAUSES 

not  blame  usf  Have  sympathy,  have  charity  nor  lay  our 
charger's  freaks  to  our  account.  You  see  how  much  we 
deprecate  them.  Yes,  yes  good  friends,  we  see  what  grace 
is  in  you,  and  our  bowels  are  moved  for  you.  We  strive 
to  have  patience  with  him  for  your  sakes.  Yet,  we  must 
say,  your  insufficiency  is  a  little  trying.  If  you  can't 
better  control  the  brute,  you'll  have  to  take  the  conse- 
quences. Good  Lord !  don 't  say  so.  Nay,  we  '11  do  our  ut- 
most. And  you,  don't  you  be  too  proud  of  your  precious 
gelding's  well-schooled  paces.  The  paltriest  among  us  could 
manage  the  like  of  him  with  ease ;  and  had  you  our  entire, 
by  God,  he'd  send  you  somersaulting.  Thus  you  see  even 
birds  of  a  feather  can  quarrel.  National  pride  and  spirit 
manifest  itself  in  various  sorts.  It  is  all  very  well  to  crack  a 
jest  on  this  matter,  sirs,  and  may  be  really  wholesome  too, 
but  the  daily  arts  of  such  Gee-hoers,  even  when  they  have  a 
secret  pride  in  him,  they'd  have  obey  their  will,  are  much 
unpleasing.  The  Christian  Hercules,  or  the  Goethean-Car- 
lylean,  lucent  in  a  clear  intelligence  of  them,  himself,  his 
task  and  time  might  not  be  troubled,  might  be  able  to 
steadily  pursue  his  way  unruffled,  whilst,  by  a  finer  art, 
he  gradually  drew  around  him  men  who  better  understood 
what  works  were  verily  profitable  in  a  minister  of  state. 
The  Kaiser  does  not  claim  to  be  one  of  the  celestial  super- 
latives; and  sympathy  is  free  to  him  as  just  Royal  Man 
in  sorely  trying  circumstance,  perseverantly  endeavouring 
to  do  as  the  day  calls  on  him  to  do,  and  as  if  his  right 
to  do  it  were  as  unchallenged  of  man  as  it  should  be ;  yet 
he  too  has  done  his  part  in  that  Herculean  task,  and  life 
nowise  passed  in  vain.  Consider  him  there,  in  that  stout- 
hearted Royalty  of  his,  honesty  of  purpose,  strength  of 
conviction,  resolute  to  be  active  in  the  lead,  to  strengthen 
and  encourage,  to  suffer  and  do  in  the  van  of  his  People, 
as  is  his  part  and  function.    With  too  large  a  number  of 


REAL  CAUSES  203 

that  People  watching  jealous,  thinking  it  their  most  be- 
coming part  and  function  to  guard  against  the  least  imag- 
ined step  without  the  stipulated  pens,  and  thwart  volition ; 
who  would  have  his  voice  a  creditless  formality,  no  clarion 
call  or  trump  to  rouse  by  its  own  living  force :  from  whom, 
certainly,  no  Wealsmen  ever  come,  nor  such  as  Worth 
could  turn  to  for  counsel.  The  true  sage  counsel  is  of 
another  breed  than  these,  and  his  aid  precious  indeed  to  a 
king.  Kaiser  Wilhelm  is  giving  his  life  in  this  breach, 
too;  and  others  yet  to  come  will  profit  by  all  that  he  has 
done  and  learnt. 

The  British,  both  statesmen  and  people,  have  from  the 
start,  been  what  I  can  only  describe  as  wantonly  and  des- 
picably contrary  to  this  Kaiser;  an  unreasoning  animosity 
and  fanaticism  has  informed  their  whole  thought  of  him 
and  conduct  toward  him.  Such  individual  Britons  as  have 
met  and  known  him,  men  who  love  a  man  and  do  know  him 
when  they  see  him,  have  been  full  of  admiration  for  him, 
and  have  occasionally  expressed  the  same.  But  their  tes- 
timony has  never  been  regarded:  it  has  been  allowed  to 
pass,  in  that  temper  of  the  day  which  takes  glory  to  itself 
as  just  and  tolerant  because  it  permits  to  each  his  say, 
if  sufficiently  in  minority,  uncontradicted,  and  lets  account 
incompatible  with  its  own  stands  side  by  side  therewith, 
even  appraised ;  yet,  heedless  of  all  verity,  no  whit  the  less 
persists  in  own  delusion.  Contradiction  is  apt  to  raise 
controversy;  and  this,  so  desirable  where  opinion  seeks  an 
airing,  is  felt  liable  to  prove  dangerous  where  an  aim  to 
establish  the  truth  is  surmised.  The  world  has  grown 
wiser;  gives  gracious  acceptance  to  all  as  persuasion  and 
finds  its  own  persuasion  undisturbed,  none  earnest  for 
fact  able  to  awake  so  much  as  an  echo.  The  Kaiser's  atti- 
tude to  Britain  was  frank  and  kingly,  forbearant  in  so 
much,  and,  as  it  seems  to  me,  with  a  real  recognition  of 


204  KEAL  CAUSES 

Britain,  British  character  and  genius;  informed,  too,  for 
long,  with  a  hope,  almost  a  trust,  that  the  Better  in  her, 
which  he  so  esteemed,  would  never  permit  the  Hustings' 
Crew  to  lead  our  nation  whither  he  must  well  have  known 
they  wished  to  lead  her.  Those  words  of  his,  when  the 
dastardly  onslaught  was  made  and  he  flung  back  his 
British  Naval  and  Military  Honorary  Commands,  that  he 
had  been  proud  of  them,  I  have  no  doubt  at  all  expressed 
his  heart's  unfeigned  emotion.  Like  all  the  best  of  the 
Germans,  he  honoured  Britain,  felt  that  in  that  country, 
there  were  or  had  been  many  kindred  of  soul:  and  in  the 
best  of  the  British  such  sentiment  is  mutual,  let  the  cap- 
throwing  odds  shout  what  they  may.  It  was  a  friendly 
face  that  he  turned  to  our  country,  the  openness  of  an 
emulous  brotherhood;  and  there  were  many  little  gracious 
acts,  too,  which  Britons  that  had  grace  would  have  known 
gracious.  And  the  response  all  this  met?  Absolute  flout. 
Not  only  from  fanatical  hostility.  From  a  low  insolence 
which  sniffs  at  courteous  proffer,  or  accepts  it  in  contempt, 
and  has  forgot  the  due  of  Man  to  Man. 

D'Alembert  preferred  his  garret  to  aught  that  king 
could  offer,  yet  'loyally  recognised  Friedrich  as  a  precious 
article  in  this  world.'  Put  the  case  thus  at  its  lowest: 
No  brave  true-hearted  man,  whatever  his  political  or  other 
opinion,  contemplating  Kaiser  Wilhelm  II,  could  have 
failed  to  recognise  him  as  a  precious  article  in  this  world; 
to  have  wished  more  power  to  his  honour  and  gratefully 
interchanged  civilities  if  their  paths  crossed.  Wherefore, 
when  we  contemplate  the  behaviour  of  our  Government 
men  to  him,  we  find  it  without  excuse :  He  to  whom  Man  is 
not  more  than  Opinion  is  a  no  man. 

Grey  and  past  the  years  of  prime,  this  Kaiser  with  his 
People  still  makes  resolute  front  against  the  swarming  mul- 
titudes eager  for  their  blood.     Quotes  Knox:  'One  man 


REAL  CAUSES  205 

with  God  is  stronger  than  all  men  without.'  Yea,  forever 
so,  what  multitudes  soever  triumph  in  his  downfall.  If 
victor,  human  sympathy  will  more  go  out  to  him  than  to 
any  other  single  man  one  knows  of  in  all  the  fighting 
millions.  The  Herr  Gott  will  not  have  forsaken  him ;  and 
certainly  many  damned  scoundrels  will  be  among  the  van- 
quished, though  mostly  safe  in  Cabinet,  not  gashed  upon 
the  field.  If  defeated  and  still  strong  in  faith,  enduring 
to  the  end,  the  winner  of  a  more  than  earthly  crown. 
Should  the  burden  prove  too  great  for  mortal  strength, 
heart  break,  the  most  stalwart  may  stand  mute  in  love,  and 
ministering  spirits  give  healing  when  he  awakes  hereafter. 
Infallibly  he  will  have  conquered  as  he  and  the  world 
merited  he  should,  nor  lived  and  died  for  naught.  And 
British  gratulations  on  the  deed  which  they'll  have  done, 
if  it  should  be  the  allowance  of  heaven  that  they  do  it,  why 
speak  of  them?  The  British  have  long  been  diligent  that 
way.  From  the  time  when  they  hung  Cromwell's  body  in 
chains,  wonderfully  perseverant  to  root  out  and  cast  down 
from  every  high  place  whatsoever  had  the  least  relish  of 
the  god-like. 

In  spite  of  all  democratical  blatancies,  a  great  loyalty 
to  their  Kaiser,  to  their  Hohenzollern  Sovereigns  generally, 
does  still  exist  in  the  Germans.  And,  whatever  one's 
thought  of  heredity  kingships  may  be,  and  I  myself  am 
no  advocate  for  them  if  any  better  plan  can  be  hit  on,  it 
is  perfectly  clear  that  only  incurably  foolish  or  viciously 
disposed  persons  could  desire  a  change  so  long  as  the  race 
does  continue  to  produce  capable  men.  German  loyalty  is 
to  the  Kaiser,  not  the  Kaisership ;  it  is  personal,  direct  and 
instant.  It  is  in  no  sense  a  carved  figure  head  that  the 
Germans  are  proud  to  see  aloft ;  but  a  living  man  of  deter- 
mined character,  forceful  soul,  whose  features,  whose  manly 
beauties  and  mortal  oddities  are  known  to  them,  whose 


206  REAL  CAUSES 

face  they  look  straight  into,  and  whose  animating  presence 
is  felt  among  them.  They  do  not  imagine  that  if  some  celes- 
tial Reader  of  Hearts  could  sift  the  whole  German  nation 
he  would  find  none  worthier  to  wear  the  crown;  but,  as 
each  honest  subaltern  endeavours  to  discharge  his  duty,  so 
is  he  reverent-proud  to  know  his  Captain  faithful  in 
his.  True  loyalty  is  always  to  Man,  not  Office.  Though, 
no  matter  what  rule  determines  who  shall  be  Chief  Officer, 
times  must  occasionally  occur  when  he  is  an  Incapable. 
Loyalty  then  upholds  the  present  Order  of  Things,  in  hope 
of  the  next  draw  proving  no  blank ;  but  the  Capable  must 
again  be  forthcoming  ere  too  long,  or  loyalty,  in  every 
genuine,  human  meaning  of  the  word,  will  swiftly  depart, 
In  speaking  of  the  Germans  one  naturally  took  the  Kaiser 
first,  transiently  referred  to  the  Kaisership  after.  Because 
they  are  still  happy  enough  to  have  a  man  for  Kaiser  and 
the  Kaisership  has  not  become  an  empty  formality  care- 
fully preserved  by  those  who  profit  from  the  keeping  of  it 
up ;  or  through  common  consent  of  contending  parties,  each 
jealous  what  new  power  the  other  might  gain  were  it 
cast  overboard;  or  spontaneously  by  the  Whole  Empire  in 
a  thorough  faith  that  the  mendacious  is  the  alone  safe  in 
topmost  region.  Transparent  humbug,  which  all  alike  have 
a  share  in  maintaining,  which  all  alike  see  through,  the 
only  earthly  god  which  all  alike  will  pay  tribute  to.  But, 
in  speaking  of  the  British,  one  as  necessarily,  in  fidelity  to 
the  fact,  proceeds  in  the  reverse  sequence;  takes  the  king- 
ship first  and  merely  casts  a  casual  glance  or  two  at  the 
king.  For  here  the  kingship  is  all,  and  who  holds  it  pure 
zero.  In  truth,  too,  it  is  neither  the  kingship  nor  the  king 
which  much  concern  us,  but  the  ideal  and  practical  achieve- 
ment of  Constitutional  Monarchy,  where  this  means  king  a 
nullity,  doing  strictly  nothing  save  what  his  State  Doctors 
bid,  who  declares  his  sovereign  will  and  dread  command 


REAL  CAUSES  207 

per  order.  For,  in  their  dictionary  sense,  one  has  no 
quarrel  with  the  words;  values  constitution  as  much  as 
Law :  In  courts  whereof,  if  the  Judge  deliver  verdict  not  as 
the  law  directs  and  his  own  soul  discerns  but  as  the 
Counsel,  who  themselves  make  and  unmake  the  laws  at 
their  pleasure  and  plead  the  cases,  just  such  cases  as  they 
please  to  plead,  have  dictated  to  him,  I  will  never  appear — 
at  least  not  as  Prosecutor  or  free  "Witness;  if  you  have 
power  to  subpcena,  hale  me  into  the  dock,  I  suppose  I 
might  have  to  submit.  Might  be  very  willing,  also,  to 
appear  at  another  call  than  the  court's,  and  clear  it  at 
the  bayonet's  point.  We  have  had  no  unbroken  line  of 
Monarchs,  like  the  Hohenzollern ;  and,  for  the  Counsel, 
none  could  reckon  how  many  dynasties  they  have  belonged 
to;  they  have  chased  each  other  like  shadows  on  a  wall, 
and  broken  up  in  lamentation  every  other  hour,  yet  shouts 
of  exultation  have  each  time  mingled,  and  none  wept  too 
sorely.  I  grant  a  family  resemblance,  but  then,  though  to 
you  and  me  one  sheep  seems  the  same  as  another,  'tis  said 
their  shepherds  know  every  one  by  the  face.  For  all  this, 
the  process  of  reducing  that  Ideal  to  practice  has  been  a 
long  one ;  only  in  ages  and  by  the  labour  of  many  genera- 
tions have  things  been  brought  to  their  present  perfection. 
The  process  may  be  considered  as  about  complete  now; 
these  last  fifty  years,  and,  as  things  seldom  last  long  after 
they  reach  perfection,  one  might  hope  a  change  was  in  the 
wind  could  one  read  any  sure  sign  of  it. 

At  first  sight  it  might  seem  as  if  very  little  were  de- 
manded of  the  Supreme  Cipher  in  this  realised  ideal  of  a 
Constitutional  Monarchy  which  the  British  have  achieved, 
to  world 's  admiration  and  emulous  copy.  To  be  bedded  and 
boarded  regardless  of  expense,  decked  with  every  honour 
a  fool  can  covet ;  cheers  rising  to  the  welkin  whenever  he 
appear  in  public,  acme  of  decorous  bearing  from  all  who 


208  REAL  CAUSES 

enter  presence;  poets  ready  to  celebrate  and  oracles  to 
enhance;  so  long  as  he  do  but  meddle  in  nothing,  behave 
with  propriety  and  wear  a  pleasing  mien :  this  might  really 
to  unreflective  souls  appear  an  easy  lot  for  mortal  wight, 
put  little  call  upon  him ; — how  far  an  heroic  or  a  glorious 
lot  we  are  not  talking  of  this  instant.  Yet  on  a  little  serious 
consideration  you  will  see  that  it  is  anything  but  an  easy. 
I  warn  you  again  that  I  am  not  arguing  that  a  crown  of 
thorns  were  much  the  preferable  to  man,  but  simply  that 
reign  in  this  apparent  lubberland  is  only  to  be  managed 
by  conformity  with  conditions  which  stretch  mortal  address 
more  than  you  can  imagine  almost.  Wisdom,  valour,  ca- 
pacity to  conduct  or  further  any  earthly  or  heavenly  con- 
cern of  men  is  not,  indeed,  required  of  the  British  Constitu- 
tional Monarch.  String  off  with  Malcolm  in  Macbeth  the 
'king-becoming  graces,'  justice,  verity,  temperance,  stable- 
ness,  bounty,  perseverance,  mercy,  lowliness,  devotion,  pa- 
tience, courage,  fortitude.  What  need  have  you  of  these  in 
him,  unless  patience  perforce  be  excepted?  Some  others, 
too,  as  bounty,  mercy,  lowliness,  in  your  own  peculiar  accep- 
tation of  the  terms,  you  might  be  disposed  to  allow  in  him, 
as  'becoming'  enough,  and  harmless;  but  I  am  speaking  of 
what  you  require  in  him.  Methinks  I  see  a  certain  lower 
in  the  brows  of  Honourable  Gentlemen  at  the  bare  sugges- 
tion of  a  king  of  theirs  needing  to  have  any  grace  or  virtue 
except  as  lent  perforce  by  them.  Were  it  not  rather  dan- 
gerous he  should;  since,  having  these,  Volition  might  be 
present  too?  Let  him  wait  on  their  will;  fulfilling  it,  he 
cannot  but  be  gracious  in  men 's  sight  and  virtuous  enow. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  one  exception  to  this  law  of  passive 
recipience ;  the  exception  which  is  necessary  to  complete  the 
rule.  One  mental  quality  a  British  Constitutional  King 
must  have  these  days,  that  of  DISCRETION.  Nothing  else 
may  be  demanded  of  him,  but  this  is  demanded  with  such  a 


REAL  CAUSES  209 

stringency  that  the  need  to  possess  this  one  solitary  requi- 
site almost  parallels  his  case  with  that  of  those  who  seek  the 
Ideal  Perfectibilities,  yearn  after  the  Unattainable.  He 
must  possess  this  quality  of  Discretion  in  a  high  degree, 
and  it  must  never  leave  him  unattended.  His  private 
friends  will  help  him;  his  ministers  do  their  utmost  to  be 
ever  at  his  elbow ;  sometimes,  too,  he  may  have  one  magnan- 
imous enough,  to  stand  as  scape-goat,  if  he  do  make  a 
slip ;  and,  if  in  a  multitude  of  counsellors  there  is  wisdom, 
he  should  not  lack  it;  but  yet,  despite  all  this,  you  must 
acknowledge  that  he  does  really  himself  need  to  possess 
this  quality.  As  chastity  on  a  woman,  it  is  the  thing  incul- 
cated on  him  from  very  early  years ;  he  is  bred  and  trained 
to  this  as  to  nothing  else ;  and  the  Press  Editors,  to  speak 
of  no  other  Mentors,  never  cease  to  remind  him  of  it, 
continually  preaching  that  Discretion  is  the  summation  of 
all  virtue  in  a  Sovereign  Man.  Referring  to  dictionary  and 
ordinary  meaning  of  the  word,  one  would  confess  it  a  very 
desirable  quality  in  a  king,  and  little  likely  to  be  absent 
where  the  more  cardinal  virtues  are  found,  only  then  cap- 
able of  real  existence ;  but  as  is  usual  in  all  such  persistent 
and  particular  insistences,  the  meaning  of  the  word  Discre- 
tion here  is  quite  peculiar.  This  particular  quality  of 
Discretion,  which  forms  the  fundamental  equipment  of  a 
Constitutional  Monarch,  has  no  part  in  judgment.  Gods! 
no :  What  a  breach  of  Discretion  should  he  dare  to  judge. 
How  much  less  may  he  act  in  anything  according  to  his 
own  discretion!  Precisely  the  thing  he  must  never  do. 
It  is  superlatively  incumbent  on  him  to  possess  this  quality 
named  of  Discretion,  and  the  last  thing  he  may  ever  dream 
of  is  to  exercise  discretion.  The  thing  is  no  paradox,  and 
quite  intelligible  on  study;  yet  this  restriction,  this  arbi- 
trary misuse  of  words  always  indicates  a  very  fundamental 
crookedness  of  soul.     There  really  ought  to  be  a  small 


210  EEAL  CAUSES 

dictionary  got  out  giving  the  special  meanings  of  plain 
English  words  as  used  by  British  Constitutionalists.  Of 
course  they  could  never  produce  such  a  thing  themselves; 
for  they  would  need  to  speak  plain  English  in  doing  so, 
and  would  never  write  discretion  :  The  highest  virtue  and 
most  absolutely  essential  in  a  king:  the  quality  by  which 
he  escapes  giving  offence  to  anybody. 

Never  to  give  offence  to  any  one.  There  have  been  men 
to  whom  the  entity  which  proposed  this  was  of  all  created 
beings  about  the  most  offensive,  and  one  can  recollect  no 
Sage  who  ever  described  it  as  the  first  duty  of  a  King. 
But,  then,  Constitutional,  in  the  special  sense,  is  an  all- 
qualifying  epithet;  and,  keeping  to  our  point,  you  must 
grant  the  extreme  difficulty  of  the  enterprise,  may  privately 
remain  convinced  of  its  impossibility.  The  ideal  is  un- 
attainable, but  the  King  will  be  allowed  to  pass  if  he  reach 
a  certain  sufficiency:  After  all,  the  races  subject  to  this 
Unoffending  Majesty,  how  critical  and  captious  soever,  have 
human  bowels.  Nathless,  as  I  continue  to  explain  to  you, 
their  demands  run  very  high.  This  King  of  theirs  is  to 
walk  majestically  along  with  more  precaution  than  a  hen 
on  a  hot  gridiron,  yet  never  show  the  slightest  ruffle  or 
disturbance  of  pose.  He  is  also  never  to  take  offence ;  yet 
not  as  a  soul  that  cannot  be  offended :  the  offerer  of  affront 
must  no  more  be  curtailed  of  his  pleasure  in  believing 
he  has  pained  as  he  wished  than  of  his  liberty  to  affront. 
He  is  to  have  no  will  apart  from  his  ministers;  the  royal 
brows  are  never  to  be  knit,  and  no  sort  of  heavenly  efful- 
gence must  put  those  who  look  upon  him  to  shame.  If 
smitten  on  one  cheek  by  what  Jack  takes  the  fancy,  he  is 
not  indeed  to  turn  the  other;  such  saintliness  might  con- 
vey suspicion  of  reproach:  No  Charybdis  more  dangerous 
to  navigator.  He  is  just  to  smile  the  same;  and  never  let 
a  wry  mouth  soil  his  loveliness  whatever  sour  herbs  he 


EEAL  CAUSES  211 

chew  as  bidden.  Now  reckon  up,  if  you  can,  what  an 
abnegation  all  this  implies :  What  a  yielding  up  to  Jugger- 
naut of  every  human  aspiration,  what  a  pitiless  extirpation 
and  voluntary  smother  of  every  quality  of  a  man,  to  gain 
this  sole  king-saving  one  Discretion;  and  then  the  infinite 
of  painstaking  in  teaching,  learning  it,  till  it  have  so 
become  a  second  nature  that  the  poor  souls  cannot  now 
depart  from  it  if  they  would,  cling  to  it  as  the  one  ark  of 
salvation.  This  lot  is  far  different  than  that  of  many 
kings  who  have  had  no  relish  of  any  virtue,  abounded  in 
the  division  of  each  several  crime,  acting  it  many  ways ;  the 
occupier  of  it  must  commit  no  crime,  at  least  do  nothing 
that  Parliament  or  People  could  reckon  criminal,  and  the 
laws  are  theirs  not  his ;  he  is  to  relish,  if  not  virtue,  all  the* 
minces  of  decorum  and  every  sauce  he's  dressed  with.  You 
might  wonder  how  any  mortal  wight  could  attain,  retain, 
such  kingship — and,  to  speak  straightly,  none  human  could 
or  would. 

Moreover,  although  this  strained  quality  of  Discretion  is 
the  essential  for  a  British  Constitutional  Monarch,  is  the 
solitary  demanded,  needs  such  a  breeding  to  it  and  even, 
you  will  confess,  a  natural  aptitude;  all  guardian  spirits, 
palace  and  state  nurses  zealously  assisting,  and  the  street 
populaces  hoarsely  shouting  warning  at  any  hair 's  breadth 
swerve  seen  or  dreaded  imminent ;  yet  it  is  easy  to  see  that, 
so  far  as  outer  result  is  concerned,  it  amounts  to  nothing. 
The  whole  of  that  effort  is  sunk;  lies  as  foundation  under 
ground,  with,  as  yet,  nothing  to  show  above.  For  the  com- 
pletest  avoidance  of  offence  merely  saves  the  constitutional 
king  from  being  kicked  out;  utmost  perfection  in  the  pre- 
scribed paces  just  preserves  from  summary  ejection,  and  no 
more.  You  may  argue  that  nothing  is  required  to  show 
aboveground ;  that  is,  that  the  preservation  from  ejectment 
is  absolutely  all  that  is  either  wanted  or  were  desirable. 


212  REAL  CAUSES 

Also  that  this  preservation  is  a  task  of  such  supreme  diffi- 
culty that  its  continued  achievement  should  yearly  be 
greeted  by  songs  of  praise.  Doubtless  too,  since  the  role 
which  the  Monarch  enacts  is  prescribed  to  him,  its  careful 
fulfilment  will  give  satisfaction  to  the  prescribers;  thus 
leave  some  surplus  to  his  credit,  not,  of  course,  of  deed  done 
for  his  nation's  good,  but  yet  of  gratitude  owed  to  his 
person.  There  is  that  in  the  heart  of  man,  however, 
which  cautions  him  against  placing  much  trust  in  loyalties 
so  engendered.  So  far,  therefore,  it  is  clear  that  he  has 
simply  attained  that  without  which  you  would  tip  the 
scuttle;  and,  if  he  is  to  become  at  all  endeared  to  your 
fancies  must  do  something  more.  A  becoming  activity  in 
the  Hospital  and  Charity  Departments  will  help  a  little. 
Then,  whilst  wary  never  to  utter  a  syllable  or  still  a  finger 
as  a  King,  he  may  discourage  largely,  and  for  once  sponta- 
neously in  words  undictated,  of  his  solemn  emotions  in 
finding  himself  in  the  high  and  responsible  position  of 
Constitution's  Apex;  much  moved  by  his  People's  devoted 
loyalty,  etc.,  etc.  And  all  this  he  must  not  do  cunningly, 
or  just  pro  forma;  but  must  have  so  entered  into  the  spirit 
that  the  godless  mummery  shall  verily  seem  to  him  real, 
his  eyes  weep  warm  tears.  Thus  conformable,  thus  con- 
firmatory to  his  People  that  they  have  found  the  way  to 
the  stars,  he  may  come  to  be  almost  beatified  in  their  eyes ; 
though,  again,  if  he  sneeze  wrong,  they  cry  at  once,  How 
long  are  we  going  to  endure  him? 

"Well,  you  admit  then,  that  here  is  a  lot  and  problem 
fit  to  tax  the  strength,  I  cannot  say  of  a  demigod  Hercules, 
heathen  or  Christian,  he  might  raise  amazed  eye  were  it 
suggested  to  him,  but  at  least  of  the  miserable  who  would 
attempt  it.  I  have  no  jest  here.  Your  British  Constitu- 
tional Monarchy  with  all  your  so-called  loyalties  to  it  is 
completely  through  and  through,  root  and  branch,  what 


REAL  CAUSES  213 

Carlyle  deliberately  named  it  long  since,  a  Blasphemous 
Mendacity.  "Which,  also,  you  have  just  further  perfected 
since  his  day.  And  no  ghost  needed  to  tell  us  what  bitter 
enmity  all  concerned  in  it  must  feel  toward  any  king-ship 
not  mendacious. 

As  for  the  kings  themselves,  were  it  our  part  to  speak  of 
these,  equity  would  lead  one  to  consider  the  blighting 
and  blasting  influence  of  their  circumstance  from  birth.  It 
is  not  our  cue  to  go  into  that ;  and  there  are  things  human- 
ity would  draw  a  veil  over,  if  not  compelled  to  expose. 
The  universal  admiration  of  Edward  VII  was  always 
hideous  to  me,  though  the  man  himself  was  not  altogether. 
The  adulation  of  him  as  a  Peace-maker  was  especially  a 
most  loathsome  phosphorescence.  It  is  not  Peace  that  such* 
men  forward. 

Sovereign  is  a  necessity  in  any  nation  that  woulcf 
march  heavenward:  a  multitude  of  men  cannot  proceed 
thither  as  a  mob  unofficered;  and  it  is  not  individuals 
struggling  thither  who  reject  the  aid  of  discipline,  co-or- 
dination, though  I  believe  they  would  one  and  all  refuse 
to  add  to  the  already  great  difficulties  of  their  progress  by 
carrying  an  officer  who  could  not  lead  them.  They  require 
that  he  shall  be  able  to  lead  them.  And  the  spirit  of 
reverent  subordination  must  run  through  to  the  top :  prop- 
erly, it  runs  down  from  the  top.  You  can  no  more  have  a 
march  thither  with  insubordination  among  the  officers,  least 
of  all  among  the  higher  officers,  than  with  a  mob  entirely 
unofficered.  If  the  Chief  Officer  do  not  reverence  the 
Eternal,  the  second  in  rank  will  not  reverence  him ;  if  the 
second  do  not  reverence  the  first,  the  third  will  not  rev- 
erence the  second.  No  loyal  obedience  will  be  in  a  squad 
of  privates  to  their  corporal  where  the  field  marshals  are 
jealous  of  the  Chief's  authority:  let  those  reduce  him  to  a 
nullity,  force  him  to  'command'  as  they  dictate,  and  the 


214  REAL  CAUSES 

privates  will  soon  treat  their  corporal  in  the  same  fashion. 
Reverence  for  the  Eternal  should  be  in  all,  and  it  is  not 
separable  from  reverence  for  Man:  the  more  of  that  there 
is,  the  deeper  the  devotion  to  higher  human  worth.  Where 
Reverence  is,  grimace  and  pretence  of  respect,  all  hollow- 
ness  and  mummery  is  impossible;  and  wherever  these  are 
the  march  is  certainly  not  thither. 

Temporal  Authority,  as  it  is  called,  has  been  from  the 
earliest  ages;  and,  in  the  higher  kingly  thought  and  act, 
its  essential  divinity  was  known  and  manifested.  But 
never  before  Carlyle  was  it  clearly  preached  and  rendered 
evident  the  highest.  The  men  of  the  ancient  hierarchies, 
even  when  actually  regnant,  never  perceived  the  noble 
leading  of  men  in  Practical  Life  to  be  the  divinest  task  for 
man  on  earth,  and  devoted  their  whole  energies  to  this,  as 
chiefest  service  of  the  Deity ;  never  saw  clearly  that  in  the 
faithful  discharge  of  this  duty  lay  a  sterner  and  more 
searching  discipline  for  their  own  souls  than  any  they  could 
invent ;  that  it  more  called  on  all  heroical  and  godly  qual- 
ities than  any  other  task,  and,  most  beneficent  for  all,  was 
also  for  each  the  way  to  the  throne  dark  with  excess  of 
bright.  To  command  and  to  obey;  to  assist  in  organizing 
the  lawless  aggregates  of  men  into  heavenly  hosts!  It  is 
the  greatest.  And  it  has  forever  been,  as  it  must  forever 
be,  endeavoured  where  private  aspiration  to  live  each  in 
the  image  of  his  Maker  has  inspired  the  lives  of  men: 
quite  inseparable  therefrom;  invariably  springing  spon- 
taneously wherever  that  has  been.  Yet,  in  the  Old,  not 
with  full  recognition.  It  can  only  genuinely  be  where  the 
private  effort  is,  and  in  this  sense  is  secondary;  but  this 
fact  never  hindered  recognition.  No;  the  failure  was  be- 
cause in  the  old  the  Fictitious  was  everywhere  exalted 
above  the  Real  in  men's  imaginations,  and  the  Universe  of 
their  thought  was  not  the  Universe  of  fact:  Spiritual  and 


REAL  CAUSES  215 

Temporal  were  divided,  and  full  of  quarrel.  The  New 
Temporal  Authorities  must  be  self-intelligent  of  the  divine- 
ness  of  the  work  they  are  called  to.  The  care  for  worldly 
things  should  not  be  sordid  in  man;  should  be  a  further- 
ance, not  a  hindrance,  to  the  life  of  the  spirit ;  this  earthly 
existence  in  its  every  meanest  province  should  glow  lucent 
to  him  with  eternal  meanings,  and  all  man's  passions, 
talents,  needs  and  toilings  unite  to  raise  him  godward. 

As  for  the  Rules  by  which  your  officers,  chief  and  other, 
are  chosen :  Election  is  unquestionably  the  right  method. 
But  the  tendency  of  office,  in  the  widest  meaning  of  the 
word,  to  become  hereditary  can  no  more  be  stopped  than 
the  tendency  of  Nature  to  repeat  the  father  in  the  son: 
it  should  not  be  allowed  to  go  beyond  this,  and  it  can  be 
prevented  from  doing  so.  No  rule  whatsoever  can  secure 
the  choice  of  a  right  man.  He  is  only  attainable,  maintain- 
able, or  renewable  by  the  constantly  renewed  effort  and 
guard  of  the  noble;  and  in  good  part  always  by  the  mere 
grace  of  heaven,  though  where  that  alone  is  looked  to,  he 
is  never  granted. 

I  have  said  that  a  veracious  and  actual  Sovereignty  still 
exists  in  Germany.  Yet  its  scope  is  very  limited;  it  has 
little  free  action,  is  on  all  hands  obstructed.  Ruskin 
wondered  why  the  populations  of  some  hero  kings  of  an- 
cient time  were  so  prone  to  mutiny,  those  of  later,  not  half 
so  heroic,  obedient;  not  I.  New  Temporal  Authority,  such 
as  above  referred  to,  in  complete  development  is,  probably, 
centuries  distant  on  the  national  scale;  and  wherever  it 
springs,  or  has  sprung,  it  will  have  to  win  every  inch  of 
its  sway,  as  sternly  as  in  the  Past.  "We  should  be  thankful, 
more  than  thankful,  for  anything  which  works  toward  it; 
and  thrice  blessed  is  aught  which  still  yields  promise  of  its 
ultimate  attainment  without  solution  of  continuity.  Neither 
do  we  ever  look  for  more  than  tolerable  approximations  on 


216  EEAL  CAUSES 

earth.  How  far  there  is  a  spirit  in  the  German  Nation 
intelligently  moving  that  way,  I  do  not  hazard  a  guess.  The 
Kaiser,  wittingly  or  no,  has  valiantly  done  according  to 
his  might  for  this  good  cause ;  and,  personally,I  think  he  has 
had  some  glimpses  of  what  he  was  working  for  vouchsafed 
him.  All  nations  are  either  travelling  that  way  or  else  to 
perdition;  hut  if  the  German  be  to  a  pronounced  extent 
intelligent  of  this  fact,  it  is  far  in  the  van  indeed,  for  no 
other  yet  dreams  it,  and  hostile  league  by  them  against  it 
is  a  sure  result. 

For  at  present  this  Divine  Subordination  of  Man  to  Man 
is  understood  and  toiled  for  by  individuals  only;  there 
is,  as  yet,  no  incipience  of  a  world-faith  in  it.  On  the 
contrary,  the  world  is  violently  opposed  to  it ;  swallowed  up 
in  a  fanatical  Superstition,  rages  delirious  at  the  mere 
name  of  it.  This  is  partly  the  residue  of  just  wrath  of 
mob  against  seated  authorities  of  no  divine  title,  still  instant 
versus  fresh  claimants  of  the  same  Ilk ;  yet  the  just  wrath 
never  purified  or  strengthened  by  uproarious  laudation  of 
Candidates,  very  undivine,  who  beg  mob 's  suffrage  for  their 
sway,  much  vitiated  and  weakened.  Partly,  mainly  now- 
adays, it  is  a  popular  apotheosis  of  vices  among  the  ugliest 
in  man's  nature,  his  jealous  hatred  of  another's  superiority 
and  mutinous  recalcitration  against  all  control,  with  glory 
only  for  the  Candidates  which  this  shall  grant  a  moment's 
seat  to. 

If  men  cast  out  a  tyrannous  or  incompetent  Sovereign, 
it  will  behoove  them  to  find  a  just  and  competent;  and 
where  the  casting  out  has  been  worthily  done  by  men  them- 
selves possessed  of  a  natural  royalty  of  soul,  potent  in  grace, 
their  search  therefore  is  not  like  to  remain  long  unsatisfied. 
Too  commonly  the  casting  out  is  done  by  men  of  quite 
another  description,  and  then  there  really  may  be  nothing 
for  it  but  to  go  kingless  for  a  while,  put  up  with  a  shifting 


REAL  CAUSES  217 

congeries  of  atoms  whirled  successively  to  summit  by  the 
elements.  Even  that  may  be  better  than  a  '  scandalous  Cop- 
per Captain ' ;  peremptory  veto  of  him  one  in  which  the  most 
earnest  of  men  will  unite  his  vote  with  the  street  arab's. 
But  the  jealous  rejection  of  Captaincy  is,  in  all  times  and 
places,  vicious.  One  does  not  insist  on  the  name  at  all. 
'No  question  is  to  be  made  but  that  the  bed  of  the  Missis- 
sippi belongs  to  the  sovereign,  that  is  to  the  nation  ? '  I  have 
no  quarrel  with  Jefferson  when  he  says  this.  Doubtless 
the  bed  of  the  Mississippi  belongs  to  the  nation,  not  par- 
ticularly to  the  President,  and  it  is  a  real  advance  to  have 
made  this  certain;  the  only  issue  I  could  have  with  you 
there  would  be  in  the  question,  How  far  it  belonged  to  the 
Almighty  God  or  the  Almighty  Dollar?  I  am  not  using 
the  word  Sovereign  here  in  any  such  sense  as  that ;  mean  by 
it  the  Man  who  is  in  first  command,  and  am  right  heartily 
thankful  that  the  notion  of  his  owning  the  country  he 
rules  in  is  done  away  with.  And  it  does  not  much  signify 
what  name  you  give  that  man,  Kaiser,  King,  Protector, 
President  or  what  else.  But  it  signifies  immensely  whether 
you  are  honest  or  not  in  giving  him  any  of  these  titles; 
whether  he  be  or  be  not  a  man  fit  to  have  the  first 
command,  and  whether  you  do  or  do  not  revere  and  obey 
him  as  verily  your  Commander.  He  is  not  to  have  all 
power,  but  there  must  be  no  pretence  about  that  he  has. 
I  may  differ  greatly  from  you  in  opinion  as  to  the  degree  of 
power  he  ought  to  have ;  may  be  thoroughly  convinced  that 
the  'way  to  heaven'  in  this  respect,  lies  in  the  getting  a 
man  who  can  be  trusted,  and  not  at  all  in  the  electing  of 
such  a  shady  individual  that  you  cannot  regard  him  in 
office  without  suspicion,  live  under  a  sort  of  perpetual 
nightmare  he'll  play  you  some  bad  trick  or  other.  But 
still  I  say,  first  and  with  greatest  emphasis,  be  honest  in 
the  matter:  if  you  will  not  have  a  real  king,  then,  for  God's 


218  REAL  CAUSES 

sake,  have  none.  However  small  the  power  you  agree  to 
place  in  your  Chief  Officer's  hands,  be  sincere  in  granting 
him  that,  obey  him  loyally  so  far,  and  you  are  not  cut  off 
from  redemption.  Moreover,  whatever  more  should  be  his 
is,  in  that  case,  sure  to  accrue  to  him  in  the  course  of 
time. 

But  of  all  conceivable  misses  the  Constitutional  Supreme 
Cipher  is  the  completest,  most  unpardonable,  indeed  entire- 
ly damned.  Consider  the  mutual  relations  of  a  Real  King 
with  his  peers,  meanest  subjects,  and  then  of  this  Mock 
King  with  his !  There  is  hardly  any  earthly  relation  more 
sacred  than  that  between  true  men  and  their  worthy 
Leader ;  if  they  and  he  be  noble  enough,  there  is  none  more 
sacred.  For  there  is  no  height  to  which  this  may  not 
reach ;  and  all  veracious  instances  of  it  are  blest,  each  in  its 
degree.  As  brave  men  love  a  Man,  will  tolerate  no  other  as 
their  Captain,  so  does  a  valiant  man  love  them;  and  no 
other  will  or  can  treat  his  subjects  as  men.  Where  loyalty 
and  devotion  are,  there,  and  there  alone,  freedom  and 
manful  self-sufficiency  are.  You  must  go  to  the  living 
records,  to  your  own  hearts;  and,  if  you  cannot  so  learn 
and  know  how  all  the  riches  of  humanity  are  here,  courtliest 
grace  and  ruggedest  virtue  alike  find  free  scope,  royal 
welcome,  and  men  singly  and  collectively  are  most  fully 
what  it  lies  in  them  to  be  when  leagued  in  a  reverent  sub- 
ordination to  higher  human  merit,  no  word  of  mine  can 
convince  you  of  those  facts.  Then  look  at  this  Mock  King 
and  his  legions,  not  specially  of  knee-crooking,  but  of  pro 
forma  observant  slaves;  whose  hearts  are  less  filled  with 
greed  for  his  favours  than  an  insolent  gratulation  he  waits 
on  theirs,  reigns  merely  by  their  suffrance.  From  his 
eye,  controlling  majesty  must  never  lighten  forth;  from 
him  must  come  no  word  of  desolating  rebuke,  none  of  vital 
command  in  the  hour  of  crisis,  of  wisdom  in  his  nation's 


REAL  CAUSES  219 

long-enduring  perplexities,  of  discretion,  counsel,  blame, 
save  as  Clerk  of  the  Court  may  read  what  the  Bench  (or 
the  Bar)  has  handed  him.  From  him  can  come,  in  him 
can  be,  no  godlike  volition,  no  high  intelligence  of  things 
human  or  divine;  no  power  to  cope  with  peril,  or  admin- 
ister in  prosperity;  to  better  men,  further  his  nation,  or 
lead  one  life  to  worthy  goal :  he  forfeited  that  private  when 
he  pledged  his  soul  to  a  bondage  too  base  for  a  dog.  He 
performs  the  functions  bidden  him,  and  him  none  noble 
reveres,  none  ignoble  fears.  Poor  wight !  one  has  pity  and 
loving  sympathy  enough  for  him  as  a  fellow  mortal  in 
misfortune,  sinned  against  and  sinning.  He  got  there 
God  wist  how ;  would  have  been  something  more  than  Her- 
culean I  reckon,  could  he  have  got  out.  And  pity  for  him 
could  only  make  one  the  more  insist  on  the  mournful 
predicament  he  stands  in. 

Of  the  service  of  such,  pro  forma  wholly,  who  shall 
speak  ?  Here  who  pays  honour,  loses  his  own  honour.  The 
effect  on  the  souls  of  such  Majesty's  Ministers  of  their  pro- 
fessed fealty  to  him  they  trot  in  blinkers,  of  all  the  farce- 
tragedy  they  play  with  him  before  high  heaven,  and  in 
their  own  hearts  to  high  heaven!  It  is  unspeakably  de- 
filing, blasting;  they  too  have  forfeited  their  manhood  and 
sold  themselves  to  depravity.  Their  caging  of  their  king, 
careful  breeding  of  the  tamest  race,  has  recoiled  upon  them- 
selves; as  they  have  been  jealous  of  all  native  royalty  in 
him,  so  has  every  kingly  quality  departed  from  themselves. 
And  the  spontaneous  eulogies,  the  voluntary  exordiums,  the 
universal  'loyalty,'  with  which  he  is  greeted,  triumphantly 
exalted;  nature  challenged  to  produce  his  equal!  Sirs, 
all  that  is  not  to  him  in  his  proper  quality,  but  as  the 
belauder's  masterpiece  of  art.  Each  feels  he  has  had  his 
share  in  shaping  this  Mock  King,  in  teaching  him  his 
manners,  training  him  in  the  way  he  should  go.    So  long, 


220  REAL  CAUSES 

therefore,  as  he  do  come  out  to  pattern,  he  glorifies  his 
Makers,  and  their  hearts  o'erswell  in  happy  tribute  to  his 
graces.  You  rage  at  the  Real  King,  couple  him  and  his 
peers  with  the  Tyrant  and  his  parasites;  yet  surely  it  is 
the  Mock  King  and  his  artists  that  deserve  to  be  so  coupled, 
held  up  to  universal  opprobrium,  till  consignable  to  eternal 
oblivion. 

Real,  Mock,  and  Tyrannical,  these  are  the  three  varieties, 
so  long  as  the  Constable  does  keep  walking ;  and  Republic 's 
President  can  partake  of  the  character  of  any  of  the  three. 
The  essential  distinction  usually  found  in  practice  between 
a  King  and  a  President  is  that  the  one  by  law  holds  his 
office  for  life,  the  other  either  at  will  of  the  electors  or  for 
a  limited  number  of  years.  This,  of  course,  is  a  distinction 
which  carries  much  along  with  it.  He  who  reigns  but  at 
will  has  so  much  of  his  faculty  taken  up  with  the  tuning  of 
his  electors  that  he  has  little  left  over  for  any  other  purpose, 
and  all  his  deeds  will  be  more  or  less  infected  with  that 
primary  object:  For  none  of  soul  above  letting  them  be, 
would  accept  Chief  Office  on  those  terms.  Neither  does  he 
whom  men  can  dismiss  at  a  moment's  notice  deserve  to  be 
reckoned  their  sovereign;  he  often  is,  viciously  and  des- 
potically enough,  but  he  always  by  one  means  or  another, 
has  to  render  that  dismissal  practically  impossible  first. 
And  we  are  speaking  of  the  lawful.  /  do  not  deny  that  the 
unchallengable  forces  of  man's  soul,  divine  and  diabolic, 
can  find  their  way  through  any  statute  and  pocket  the 
Constitutional  Palladiums ;  but  it  is  not  exactly  your  argu- 
ment they  should  .  President  for  a  term  of  years  is,  in  law, 
a  great  advance  on  the  mere  at  will ;  it  is  far  under  the  for 
life,  yet  does  give  a  certain  clear  and  definite  legal  field 
for  action.  And,  within  it,  one  asks  the  Americans :  What 
is  your  ideal  of  your  President?  Is  it  your  wish,  your 
prayer  and  endeavour,  that  he  be  a  man  of  eminent  human 


REAL  CAUSES  221 

worth,  gifted,  capable,  'the  deepest  heart,  the  highest  head 
to  scan ' ;  one  whom  you  can  look  up  to  for  light  and  guid- 
ance, can  trust  to  act  in  every  place,  in  every  time,  with 
Decision,  Justice,  Tolerance,  doing  that  in  the  nation's 
name  which  every  wisest,  bravest  man  would  wish  to  see 
done ;  one  in  whose  hands  you  feel  your  Country 's  welfare 
safe  and  its  honour  above  suspicion  ?  There  may  be  a  pious 
wish  or  two  of  that  sort  among  you;  as  yet,  I  fear,  not 
much  of  prayer  and  endeavour;  but  I  do  not  despair  of 
this  coming.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  you  would  have  him 
your  own  and  your  senators '  plaything ;  a  powerless  entity 
to  be  bullied  and  breached,  twitted  and  snubbed;  made  to 
pay  dear  for  the  'honour'  he  has  been  so  lucky  as  to  come 
by,  and  stand  cap  in  hand  to  your  multitudinous  lordships 
— Why,  in  that  case,  which  has  not  yet  been  reached  any 
more  than  the  other,  I  should  have  to  say  to  you  also :  My 
soul  come  not  into  your  company. 

Alas!  the  real  issue  here  is  not  between  different  names 
for  the  chief  officer,  or  various  Forms  of  Government;  but 
between  a  spirit  of  loyal  subordination  willingly  obedient 
to  merit,  and  a  spirit  of  mutiny,  jealous  of  authority. 

The  rule  by  which  a  man  is  chosen  for  chief  officer,  by 
election,  birth,  whatever,  is  of  trifling  import  compared  to 
the  fact  of  whether  the  Way  to  Chief  Office  is  foul  or  clean, 
whether  it  is  possible  or  not  possible  for  an  heroical  man  to 
reach  it.  If  the  rule  be  by  election,  this  is  determined  by 
who  elects  and  in  what  spirit.  It  is  not  toil  and  difficulty 
or  maze  threading  that  stops  a  hero;  nor  any  amount  of 
dirt  either,  providing  the  part  demanded  of  him  be  to  turn 
the  cleansing  streams  upon  it,  not  to  add  to  the  accumula- 
tion. I  daresay  many  imagine  that  where  Birth  is  the  rule, 
the  above  possibility  or  impossibility  is  not  so  dependent  on 
the  spirits  of  men :  whoever  does  so  imagine  is  totally  mis- 
taken.   Ruskin  talked  of  its  being  preferable  to  fasten  in- 


222  REAL  CAUSES 

Btitutions,  such  as  those  of  Austria,  down  with  bands  of 
iron,  to  await  the  chance  of  genius  being  born  to  the  throne, 
rather  than  men  should  come  to  think  as  they  do  in  America 
— and  some  other  places ;  and,  though  claiming  and  believ- 
ing coincidence  with  Carlyle  in  political  matters,  was  herein 
more  contrary  to  him  than  the  wildest  Sansculotte.  Un- 
happily, Ruskin's  political  faith  was  a  thing  caught  up,  and 
preached,  indeed  with  zeal  enough,  till  it  ran  into  the  fanci- 
ful and  rushed  to  foolishness;  yet  never,  like  Carlyle 's, 
rock-built  on  more  important  faiths,  stable,  constant  and 
enduring,  founded  in  the  depths  of  man's  being  and  one 
with  his  faith  as  a  soul  in  eternity.  "What  did  Carlyle 
more  utterly  condemn  than  the  thought  to  fasten  down 
with  bands  of  iron  what  has  ceased  to  deserve  to  stand? 
Did  he  not  declare  that  attempt  as  impious  as  futile,  in 
deadly  criminality  unmatchable?  Say  that  it  were  better 
to  be  a  Nomadic  Chactaw  than  profess  obedience  to  the 
false?  And  assert  that  nowhere  was  there  less  chance  of 
Genius  being  born  than  to  a  throne  so  upheld?  Genius 
has  been  born  in  a  manger ;  but  you  will  find  no  instance  of 
its  being  born  to  a  Line  of  Kings  who  had  for  generations 
set  their  faces  against  heaven's  light,  and  chosen  darkness 
for  wisdom.  Such  a  race  cannot  beget  it.  "Were  it  born 
there,  it  could  not  come  to  maturity  and  reach  the  throne 
still  intelligent  and  potent ;  the  conditions  of  its  breeding 
would  stifle  it  or  hopelessly  cripple;  for,  as  I  have  said, 
'such  thrones  are  guarded  from  truth  and  insidious  false- 
hood blasts  every  bud.'  Only  so  long  as  the  race  on  the 
throne  is  sincere,  veracious,  manfully  fulfils  its  duties  and 
stands  open  to  all  noble  influences,  free  under  heaven  To- 
day, is  it  competent  to  produce  a  successor  fit  to  be  king. 
Hardly  anything  more  strikes  me  about  the  German  Kaiser- 
ship  than  this  its  Openness.    Heir  to  that  throne  can  grow 


REAL  CAUSES  223 

into  a  genuine  truth-loving  Man  who  acts  as  the  light  ray  of 
Deity  in  him  bids  him  act,  seeks  counsel  of  the  Silent  Ora- 
cles and  the  Sages ;  he  is  not  from  his  cradle  fed  with  medi- 
cated poisons,  carefully  bred  to  a  Lie  or  a  Pretence,  sorrow- 
fully cut  off  from  contact  with  the  Living  Real  which  gives 
inspiration  and  might.  The  highest  of  men  born  to  that 
throne  might  develop  to  full  stature,  and  reach  it  fitter  for 
it  than  not  born  to  it  he  ever  could.  With  the  British  King- 
ship the  sad  reverse  of  all  this  is  true.  No  developed  Man 
would  accept  the  office  on  the  terms  offered.  No  simplest 
worthy  human  Father  of  a  Family,  or  capable  Manager  of 
a  Business  would  accept  his  post  on  any  similar  terms. 
And  yet  the  British,  capturing  him  at  the  birth,  spell-bind 
their  King  in  it  and  to  it ;  with  results  altogether  horrible 
to  the  king  and  to  his  ministers,  to  the  parliament  and  peo- 
ple: bottomless  mendacity  which  knows  not  a  lie  from  a 
truth,  permeating  their  whole  thought  and  conduct,  so  that 
nothing  which  is  not  mendacious  appears  safe  to  them. 

Our  Constitutional  Monarchy  would  be  endangered 
should  Germany  grow  more  powerful,  argued  Mr.  Churchill, 
enumerating  reasons  why  Britain  should  have  seized  so  rare 
a  well  planned  opportunity  for  fastening  on  that  country 's 
throat.  That  Ark  of  the  Covenant  (with  whom  we  know) 
is  sacred  to  him;  and  every  Briton  should  rise  to  save  it 
from  a  breath  of  peril.  If  a  substantial  Party  in  parlia- 
ment were  to  propose  tip  of  the  scuttle,  I  do  not  know  how 
he  would  vote.  The  required  kow-tows  and  intricate  obser- 
vances pro  forma  sit  easy  on  so  nonchalant  a  nature,  long 
perfect  in  them,  but,  though  service  to  a  king  not  fully 
cooked  to  his  ministers '  liking  were  his  soul 's  greatest  abhor- 
rence, he  might  be  quite  pleased  to  be  rid  of  these  obser- 
vances. What  sordidnesses  are  here!  And  who  are  they 
that  make  war  to  perpetuate  them? 


224  REAL  CAUSES 

German  Kaiser;  British  King.  What  other  conclusion 
than:  To  the  former,  God  speed;  and  of  the  latter,  'keep 
well  to  windward  of  him;  be  not,  without  necessity,  par- 
taker of  his  adventures  in  this  extremely  earnest  Universe. ' 
.  .  .  The  portraitures  here  given  are  true;  and  you  know 
it.  Yet  you  proclaim  your  attack  upon  Germany  warranted 
and  made  holy  because  it  is  inspired  with  a  hope  of  destroy- 
ing the  former,  as  own  and  world's  bane,  further  exalting 
the  latter  as  own  and  world's  salvation.  Are  you  not  a 
People  abandoned  to  Superstition  and  Idolatry  ?  Sins  real 
and  grievous,  sins  ultimately  ruinous  wherever  found, 
whereof  those  Political  Faiths  you  have  so  long  shouted  on 
the  house  tops  and  are  now  storming  at  the  cannon 's  throat 
are  the  modern  form. 

II.    The  Liberal  Ministry 

They  will  never  be  charmed :  I  do  not  dream  it.    No ! 

Assuredly  I  do  not  belong  to  any  of  the  Political  Parties, 
and  in  nothing  that  I  have  said  or  am  about  to  say,  owe  bias 
to  having  ever  belonged  to  one  or  another  of  these;  yet  I 
do  not  hesitate  to  confess  that,  so  far  as  I  have  had  sympa- 
thy with  one  side  rather  than  another,  it  has  been  with  the 
Liberal.  So  much  so  that,  if  demanded  Liberal  or  Tory? 
the  answer  might  have  had  to  be :  I  do  not  love  a  Liberal, 
but  a  Tory  I  cannot  abide.  This  non-abidance  of  the  Tory, 
however,  is  with  the  spirit  which  believes  Propriety  is  our 
salvation,  and  rustles  angerly  if  virtue  be  not  concluded 
where  by  law  and  custom  it  is  supposed;  not  at  all  non- 
abidance  of  one  conserving  aught  that  deserves  to  be  con- 
served. The  Tory  of  my  respect  is  mostly  mute,  contemp- 
tuous of  party  clamours,  silently  endeavouring  things  prac- 
ticable, and  refusing  to  range  himself  under  Tory-banners. 
Which  banners  do  often  still  name  things  vital  to  man's 


REAL  CAUSES  225 

welfare;  but  the  noisy  troops  beneath  them  advance  these 
no  whit,  bring  them  into  greater  and  greater  disrepute,  and 
render  their  rescue  ever  the  more  difficult.  And,  similarly, 
my  sympathy  with  the  Liberal  has  only  been  as  one  hon- 
estly resolute  not  to  hold  by  the  untenable,  in  fact,  as  one 
still  diligent  in  the  first  and  easier  half  of  the  world-drama ; 
not  at  all  as  advocate  of  Liberal  doctrines,  a  believer  in 
their  efficacy,  or  man  much  meriting  one's  esteem.  There 
are  cases  in  which  the  choice  may  be  merely  between  the 
damned  already  and  the  not  quite  yet ;  often,  too,  if  a  man 
ponder  his  own  case,  he  must  conceive  it  so;  and,  closing 
the  profitless  enquiry,  proceed  as  he  can,  content  with  either. 
Tory  and  Liberal!  The  Tory  has  been  the  Defender — of 
the  indefensible;  and  to  Liberal,  as  attacker  thereof,  All 
speed  could  be  the  only  word :  It  is  quite  another  matter  if 
he  commence  setting  up  instead  of  pulling  down.  Whoso 
is  not  solid  for  the  first  half  of  the  world  problem  one  re- 
jects on  the  threshold ;  whoso  despises  the  second  far  harder 
and  more  indispensable  half,  imagines  that  the  faith  and 
character  which  passed  in  the  destroyer  will  suffice  in  the 
builder,  is  not  one  to  go  with;  and,  if  he  persist,  he  will 
cease  to  be  solid  even  for  the  first  half,  as  is  glaringly  exem- 
plified in  the  present  day  British  Liberal.  Nathless,  whilst 
caring  next  to  nothing  for  either,  one  alway,  till  his  resort 
to  direct  Crime,  to  the  joy  and  instant  heartiest  co-operation 
of  his  whilom  Tory  foe,  thought  the  Liberal  more  on  the 
side  of  Light;  indeed  he  clearly  was  so. 

Moreover,  as  man  is  ever  more  than  opinion,  the  prepon- 
derance, so  very  marked  in  recent  years  of  the  Liberal 
Leaders  in  Parliament  over  their  adversaries  in  intellect 
and  general  force  of  character,  could  not  but  cause  one's 
sympathies  to  lean  to  them,  if  put  in  that  preference.  The 
diminution  of  manhood  in  the  Tory  Leaders  had  been  going 
on  long.     'Dizzy'  phenomena  were  very  ominous.     Party 


226  REAL  CAUSES 

of  Law  and  Order,  zealous  for  the  Established,  which  apoth- 
eosised  such  a  conjurer  was  evidently  approaching  the 
steeps ;  and  had  the  Liberal  continued  on  his  then  course, 
not  compounded  and  put  in  his  bid  as  Unoffending  Majes- 
ty's saviour,  there  is  little  doubt  Niagara  had  been  shot. 
Lord  Salisbury,  as  a  man  of  intrinsic  worth,  embodying  for 
the  last  time  whatever  of  genuine  a  dying  Aristocracy 
could  yet  exhibit,  was  a  substantial  stay  in  the  tide,  but 
was  and  could  be  nothing  else ;  and  since  him  the  declension 
has  been  precipitous.  Mr.  Balfour  was  still  a  gentleman 
and  had  quality  air ;  he  could  not  and  would  not  lead,  knew 
the  hopelessness,  could  only  offer  impediment  to  his  best 
ability  j  and  in  his  persistence  in  elaborate  quibble,  sophis- 
try, general  land  of  the  ifs  and  perhapses,  there  was  some- 
thing not  merely  of  a  martyr  sufferance,  but  of  real 
soul's  convictions.  For,  if  life  to  him  no  great  perhaps, 
a  mass  of  little  ones.  There  is  now  another  called  to  this 
great  place,  but  no  man  has  seen  him  move  in  it.  The 
Tories  should  have  kept  by  their  Chamberlains,  if  they 
wished  to  remain  a  united  and  disciplined  Party:  Clever 
knaves  the  only  resource  left  to  them.  There  are  judg- 
ments of  God  visible  in  these  things:  the  Tories  have  de- 
served them  and  brought  them  on  themselves;  but  if,  be- 
fore, they  were  partly  saved  by  the  Liberal 's  voluntary  com- 
promise, we  must  admit  that  the  present  Liberal  Ministry 
has  partly  owed  its  '  success '  to  the  fact  that  there  has  been 
none  to  dispute  the  field  with  it.  So  far  as  the  Kings  are 
of  the  smallest  proper  weight,  for  instance,  what  other 
staff  for  them  to  lean  on,  not  visible  reed  shaken  in  the 
wind  ?  Like  it  or  not,  to  a  man  blessed  with  any  modicum 
of  Discretion,  there  could  be  no  choice  between  Asquith  and 
the  alternatives.  And  (no  shadow  of  irony  here),  whether 
distasted  at  first  or  not,  that  man's  nobly  skilful  steering 


REAL  CAUSES  227 

in  this  particular  must  have  commended  itself  to  any  not 
hopeless  as  a  Rehoboam. 

Diminution  of  manhood  on  the  Tory  side!  Yes.  And 
on  the  Liberal?  I  am  afraid  that  to  me  it  appears  all  a 
down  steep  here,  and  the  last  leader  almost  collapse.  So 
that  one  looked  for  nothing  save  lower  and  lower,  and  a 
clash  of  contraries  alike  futile,  despicable.  The  greater 
wonder  was  it  to  me  to  see  Faculty  suddenly  appear  in  that 
'  murk  of  imbecilities. '  For  there  was  and  is  no  disputing 
it.  The  Men  of  this  Ministry  are  men  of  will,  determina- 
tion, tough  perseverance;  they  are  men  of  high  ability, 
expert,  adroit,  and  their  cleverness  is  neither  of  the  knav- 
ish nor  the  reckless  sorts ;  they  are  men  of  various  gifts  and 
character  firmly  united,  working  well  together  for  common 
aim.  And  that  Aim  is  one  which  their  minds  have  con- 
ceived as  fair;  they  have  devoted  themselves  to  a  cause, 
and  been  at  least  as  zealous  to  win  it  as  feed  counsel; 
neither  did  fee  bring  them  to  it,  but  humanity's  imagined 
good.  They  are  THE  LIBERAL  MINISTRY;  the  cactus 
flower,  and  brightest  Constellation  of  Merit  which  all  that 
has  been  called  Liberalism  in  British  Political  circles  these 
last  hundred  years  has  produced.  I  say  it  fearlessly. 
Prime  Minister  comparable  to  Asquith  Britain  has  not  had 
since  Chatham.  It  is  a  sad  comparison.  For  Asquith  is 
not  comparable  to  Chatham.  Chatham,  too,  had  opinions 
unrepeatable,  notions  which,  as  sincerely  believed  in  by 
veracious  soul,  could  occur  only  once  in  world-history ;  but 
Chatham  likewise  had  convictions,  insights,  of  a  man,  which 
the  earliest  and  the  latest  repeat,  know  true  forever;  he 
was,  in  much,  in  league  with  the  stars,  and  the  more  he 
came  to  know  of  this  world 's  business  the  more  saw  therein 
the  hand  of  divine  Providence.  "Whereas  Asquith,  bred 
attorney,  has  only  persuasions  which  he  takes  for  convic- 
tions ;  he  is  in  league  with  whom  he  can  gain,  and  the  more 


228  REAL  CAUSES 

he  learns  of  business  becomes  in  it  more  subtly  versed ;  at 
best,  he  traces  in  Event  the  triumph  of  some  Principle,  or 
ill-chanced  overset.  Indeed,  when  one  turns  to  the  human 
and  perennial,  I  find  no  man  in  this  Ministry  who  belongs 
at  all  to  that  Communion  of  the  Brave  which  lasts  through 
all  ages,  and  wherein  the  meanest  of  the  mean  may  have 
his  rank.  None  whom  one  could  ever  worship  as  true  man 
and  valiant,  whose  life's  conduct  is  a  gospel  to  men,  whose 
words  and  deeds  can  be  honouringly  dwelt  on  in  memory 
or  piously  emulated.  Acme  of  our  generations'  Free  Par- 
liaments' Cabinets,  topmost  thereof,  brought  out  and  yet 
celebrated  with  shouting  enough  to  deafen  Olympus ;  and  in 
the  Role  which  numbers  all  who  have  in  their  day  verily 
lived  as  men,  manifested  the  Unchangeable  under  every 
avatar,  no  name  entered !  Alas !  these  men  are  utterly 
swallowed  in  Avatar.  Their  souls  have  never  seen  what  is 
eternal;  they  spend  themselves  for  and  in  the  delusions  of 
the  hour.  Not  from  the  silent  monitions  but  from  the  loud 
noises  have  they  ever  sought  inspiration. 

I  hope  I  have  no  personal  animosity  toward  any  Member 
of  Parliament;  and,  certainly,  so  far  as  Members  of  this 
Cabinet  are  concerned,  inclination  has  ever  been  the  other 
way:  to  them  love  had  gone  out  an  it  might.  I  chanced 
last  night  to  read  Burn's  address  to  his  Majesty  on  his 
birthday : — 

'Ye   've  trusted   'Ministration, 
'To  chaps,  wha  in  a  barn  or  byre, 
'Wad  better  fill'd  their  station.' 

Now,  however  hideous  the  deeds  these  men  have  done,  how- 
ever great  one's  sorrow  for  each  that  his  soul  should  have 
been  sent  astray  by  his  breeding,  one  does  not  quite  pic- 
ture Mr.  Asquith  squatting  happy  with  the  milking  pail 
between  his  legs;  Churchill  mending  the  thatch  and  ex- 


REAL  CAUSES  229 

changing  rough,  good-natured  sarcasms  with  the  passers 
by;  Lloyd  George  pondering  'Every  'leven  wether-tods; 
.  .  .  Fifteen  hundred  shorn.  What  comes  the  wool  to?' 
unable  to  reckon  it  without  counters.  Despite  the  inveter- 
ate proclivity  of  each  to  regard  the  churning  of  butter  as 
man's  highest  calling,  they  had  hardly  been  worthily  fitted 
with  these  humble  stations.  There  are  the  tribes  of  the 
sheer  incompetent,  whom  charity  would  dismiss  to  other 
tasks;  the  tribes,  too,  of  the  malevolent  and  verminous, 
whom  charity  would  deal  even  more  promptly  with;  but 
then,  also,  sometimes  men  whom  charity  could  wish  had 
better  known  the  task  before  them.  You  may  have  men 
with  whom  little  could  in  any  case  be  done,  out  of  whom 
not  much  ever  could  have  come.  And,  again,  you  may 
have  men  doing  grave  mischief  in  Sion,  in  whose  original 
capacity  it  lay  to  have  done  enduring  good  there.  Faculty 
alone  will  not  save  a  man  from  running  after  false  gods, 
to  reap  in  himself  the  reward  inevitable,  as  well  as  prove 
a  curse  to  the  world. 

None  of  the  men  of  this  Ministry  were  anything  more 
than  names  seen  in  newspapers  to  me  till  about  the  time 
of  the  Boer  War.  During  that,  when  things  were  being 
blundered  and  rumours  were  flying  rife  of  changes,  perhaps 
Government  to  be  turned  out, — And  C.  B.  come  in?  God 
help  us ! — there  ran  a  passing  whisper  through  the  air  Not 
him  but  Asquith,  the  quality  of  which  struck  me  strangely. 
For,  evanescent  as  a  gleam  of  sheet  lightning  in  the  dusk 
and  of  no  more  articulate  significance,  it  was  instantly  dis- 
cernible a  heart-breathing,  such  as  could  only  have  been 
toward  a  man  of  uncommon  sort.  Real  faith  was  in  it: 
Save  our  country :  That's  the  man.  Some  little  band  already 
knew  that  there  was  the  power,  whoever  might  have  the 
form.     Later,  when  the  Liberal  was  floundering  helpless, 


230  REAL  CAUSES 

to  a  dissolution  or  one  knows  not  what,  and  Providence  sud- 
denly withdrew  the  addlehead,  it  seemed  in  mercy.  A 
death  from  the  Gods!  We  waft  him  hence,  poor  wight, 
unequal,  let  the  blanket  of  night  cover  him,  none  speak  of 
him  more  in  praise  or  in  censure.  "We  grant  you  instead,  of 
our  grace,  a  Leader  in  verity.  One  wonders  now  if  it  was 
in  wrath,  a  sterner  judgment  yet:  We  are  weary  of  your 
endless  puddlings  round  and  round:  Go  forward  straight, 
quick  march, — whither  you  are  bent  ? 

Contemplating  Mr.  Asquith  as  Premier,  one  recognises 
great  natural  endowment :  a  quiet  and  constant  resolution ; 
good  fund  of  silent  energy,  for  all  his  talk;  of  politic  re- 
serve and  reticence,  of  course,  abundance,  neither  cunning ; 
of  simply  manful  reserve,  abiding  in  his  strength,  a  notable 
degree,  and,  despite  too  many  a  woful  rejoinder,  of  ditto 
reticence,  courteous  unmoved  before  the  attacks  of  inso- 
lence, not  out-staring,  nor  indebted  to  mere  thickness  of 
hide;  a  soul  well-ballasted,  stable  of  pursuit,  for  whose 
admirable  wending  of  his  way  'adroit'  were  too  poor  a 
word.  Take  him  as  a  man  of  the  world  achieving  his  aim 
in  the  world  as  he  found  it  with  such  observance  of  moral- 
ity as  custom  demanded,  and  he  ranks — how  far  above  the 
generality  of  Successful  Men !  He  does  not  wear  his  heart 
on  his  sleeve ;  but  he  shows  his  soul  to  the  world,  and  is  not 
crafty.  Yet  what  he  purposes  it  may  be  more  your  part  to 
gather  than  his  to  tell ;  for  certain,  not  prematurely,  how- 
soever you  urge  it.  True  original  capacity  for  statesman- 
ship is  in  so  much  evident,  though  I  can  call  no  man  who  is 
ignorant  of  eternal  law  a  statesman.  Skill  in  parliamentary 
tactics,  however  high  it  go,  is  a  small  matter;  but  skill  in 
threading  the  mazes,  not  simpler  in  London  to-day  than  in 
Crete  or  Athens,  has,  from  of  old,  been  known  to  reside 
only  in  heroes.  In  which  connexion,  you  will  remember 
that  Theseus  needed  a  clue  to  hold  by :  None  without  this 


REAL  CAUSES  231 

able  to  give  more  than  short-lived  accidental  exhibitions  of 
that  skill.  For,  in  my  estimation,  Mr.  Asquith  has  been 
highest  in  what  he  has  least  prided  himself  in,  in  what  he 
has  done  in  obedience  to  uncomfortable  necessities  he  by 
no  means  sought.  The  Minotaurs  he  went  out  to  slay, 
named  Minotaurs  to  himself  and  the  public — Well,  I  sup- 
pose some  of  them  were  very  ugly  monsters, — most  of  them 
bedridden  time  out  of  mind  and  loath  of  physic  to  shorten 
pain.  Which,  himself  so  careful  doctor  to  preserve  the 
father  of  in  honour,  how  should  he  succeed  in  administer- 
ing hellebore  to?  They  seemed  all  sitting  up  in  bed  and 
raving  madly,  with  the  father  inclined  to  patronage,  when 
enterprise  abroad  stilled  this  brawl  in  hospital  ward.  He 
now  names  another,  by  no  means  bedridden,  superlative  of 
Minotaurs;  and — has  circled  Theseus  with  an  ugly  brood 
indeed.  To  return :  It  is  said  and  truly  that  this  is  always 
the  case,  that  where  a  man  is  highest  he  is  sure  to  be  least 
aware  of  it.  Yes;  but,  well  remembering  that,  it  was  not 
so  specially  my  meaning  here.  If  our  first  question  of  a 
man  be  Has  he  an  aim?  the  second  is,  What  aim?  and,  if 
inadvertent  virtues  redeem,  they  do  not  excuse.  In  few 
things,  perhaps  in  no  thing,  that  Mr.  Asquith  has  pro- 
posed, achieved  as  he  planned,  do  I  much  admire  him ;  it  is 
in  his  conduct  in  what  has  come  upon  him  without  will  of 
his,  in  unexpected  straits  where  he  appeared  cornered, 
predicaments  wherein  nothing  save  his  mother-wit  can 
avail  a  man,  that  he  has  best  proved  of  what  a  quality  his 
mother- wit  is,  tragically  given  evidence  how  very  differently 
he  might  have  proposed  and  achieved.  If  any  mortal 
imagine  that  these  remarks  refer  to  quickness  in  repartee 
or  in  matching  a  snap-division,  he  is  too  contemptible. 

In  the  matter  of  the  Kingship  and  a  Prime  Minister's 
relation  to  it,  for  instance:  Mr.  Asquith  created  none  of 
that;  he  found  it  already  extant,  had  to  do  with  it  as  he 


232  REAL  CAUSES 

could.  And  it  certainly  is  not  clearness  of  vision  for  the 
damnability  of  the  thing  can  dim  our  eyes  to  any  worthi- 
ness in  dealing  with  it.  Which  reflection  extends  far,  it 
extends  to  a  man's  whole  life's  conduct  in  his  generation; 
it  extends  beyond  our  ken,  and  teaches  to  leave  judgment 
to  heaven.  Our  part  but  to  look  at  the  various  conducts, 
endeavour  to  see  them  and  learn  from  them.  "Was  (is)  the 
matter  so  bad  that  no  man  could  reach  the  Premiership 
without  soaring  his  soul  by  the  way  ?  may  be  a  first  question. 
Which  we  leave.  We  here  take  him,  seared  or  unseared, 
arrived  at  the  Premiership.  How  is  he  going  to  comport 
himself  in  it  now  he  is  there  ?  Assuredly  there  is  a  vast,  in- 
deed an  infinite,  difference  between  a  noble  man  wisely 
steering  his  way  in  a  foul  element  with  a  true  understanding 
of  what  that  element  is,  his  own  inspiration  drawn  from 
other  sources,  and  a  man  pleased  to  be  borne  thereby  and 
taking  its  lights  for  his  loadstars:  There  is  no  comparing 
these ;  they  differ  not  in  degree  but  in  kind.  Yet  is  life  a 
very  inextricable,  multitudinously  blended  affair.  And,  cer- 
tainly, I  say  again,  no  clearness  of  sight  for  the  anipolarity 
of  these,  no  loving  veneration  of  the  one,  sorrowful  abhor- 
rence of  the  other,  can  possibly  blind  us  to  the  least  trait 
of  manhood  appearing  in  that  other.  If  I  had  to  say 
mutely  to  Mr.  Asquith,  when,  as  a  householder,  I  received 
his  Recruiting  Circular  calling  upon  me  to  help  in  righting 
the  'intolerable  wrongs'  suffered  by  Britain's  Allies  (in 
the  normal  sanctimony,  it  was,  of  course,  Allies'  wrongs 
rather  than  Britain's)  :  My  soul  come  not  into  your  com- 
pany: it  is  the  wrongs  Britain  and  her  Allies  have  done 
which  are  the  true  intolerable,  there  were  other  cases  in 
which  I  had,  as  silently,  saluted  him  with  true  respect  for 
magnanimity  and  a  really  human  dealing  with  foul  ele- 
ment. Even  in  the  Home  Rule  pickle,  when  things  were 
openly  done  which  under  any  other  avatar  nothing  but 


REAL  CAUSES  233 

utter  Impotence  could  have  permitted,  and  Constitutional 
Liberty,  Mutiny  by  Law,  seemed  giving  the  world  such  a 
spectacle  of  helpless  absurdity  as,  out  of  Poland,  it  had 
never  witnessed,  was  not  he  the  only  one  who  kept  head? 
In  his  patient  resolution  to  carry  his  measure,  or  what 
remnant  of  it  could  be  got  through,  by  the  Principles  he 
was  pledged  to,  something  almost  great.  For  it  was  a  peril- 
ous exposure  of  what  the  Principles  lead  to, — and,  if  it  be 
one  thing  to  keep  head  in  the  midst  of  imminent  perdition, 
it  is  another  to  do  it  with  your  head's  furniture  turning 
out  visible  nonsense.  What  a  welter  for  human  talent  to 
be  engaged  in!  Yet  still,  if  the  talent  is  there!  He  is 
happier  now,  he  and  his,  with  Principles  suspended — in  a 
double  sense ;  aloft  indeed  on  the  banners,  but  then  no  need 
to  act  by  them  in  fighting  with  a  Heretic. 

May  I  recount  here  another  trifling  private  experience? 
I  had  been  reading  some  speech  of  Mr.  Asquith's,  had  risen 
from  it  full  of  disgust,  and  an  hour  or  two  after  chanced  to 
enter  the  post  office  at  Stevenage.  A  poor  old  man  and  a 
poor  old  woman,  independent  of  each  other,  had  come  for 
their  first  Old  Age  Pension  installment.  Neither  could 
speak  and  tears  were  running  down  the  cheeks  of  each.  The 
girl  behind  the  counter  was  both  patient  and  sympathetic. 
They  were  neither  shamed  nor  had  met  rebuff :  it  was  just 
simply  that  such  a  mercy  had  been  beyond  their  hope.  One 
left  with  other  feelings  than  those  with  which  one  rose 
from  the  speech.  Another  old  woman  in  the  village  where 
I  then  lived  said  she  did  not  know  who  had  done  this  for 
them.  'Some  say  it  is  the  Liberals'  (the  gentry  of  that 
part  had  done  their  utmost  to  make  out  it  was  not)  'I  don't 
know ;  but,  if  it  is,  God  bless  them ! '  Amen.  This  deed  is 
'part  of  the  sphere  harmonies  of  the  universe,  infinitesi- 
mally  small,  yet  of  them.'  Let  none  imagine  though,  that 
this  really  wholesome  barrel  of  butter  churned  by  Asquith 


234  EEAL  CAUSES 

&  Co.  is  referred  to  as  memento  that  in  the  like  thereof  is 
grace  most  seen,  Premier's  far  diviner  tasks  not  hard  as 
steel. 

Lloyd  George  and  his  Budgets,  Finance,  and  other,  fac- 
ulty in  general!  So  long  one  had,  as  it  were,  abandoned 
hope,  and  the  black  thing  Deficit  seemed  growing  on  the 
books,  when  Lo!  a  man  possessed  of  no  Fortunatus's  purse, 
ultra-constitutional  powers,  or  gifts  peculiarly  celestial,  but 
possessed  of  Common  Sense,  a  good  Business  Head,  a  will 
to  do  and  dare,  and  what  a  change!  Some  distinct  modi- 
cum of  ultra-mundane  faith,  too ;  were  it  only  in  the  more 
equal  distribution  of  butter.  Perhaps  no  Joshua  to  lead 
you  to  the  conquest  of  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey ; 
yet,  at  least,  an  alert  Commissary  of  Subsistence,  well  able 
to  spy  out  where  milk  and  honey  are  stored,  and,  after  due 
cudgelling  of  his  brains,  to  apply  suitable  thumbikins  suffi- 
ciently persuasive  on  the  keepers.  Yield  up  by  law  a  little, 
for  we  are  Legislators,  what  you  have  gathered  in  the  name 
of  law.  The  anticipatory  shrieks  of  the  to  be  shorn,  their 
feebler  bleats  in  the  cold  wind  since,  more  than  fifteen  hun- 
dred, I  doubt,  were  they  not  heart  rending?  And,  for 
answer,  imperturbable  announcement  of  what  the  wool  may 
be  expected  to  come  to,  reckoned  without  the  aid  of  coun- 
ters. To  all  which,  in  its  sphere,  what  could  or  can  one 
say  except  Well  done !  Good  speed !  One  was  always  right 
heartily  thankful  for  these  things,  though  constantly  aware 
that  there  was  a  want  of  the  primary  soundness  about  this 
finance.  Skill  in  milking  the  Fat  Kine  is  all  very  well  in 
its  way,  where  you've  got  them  to  milk,  but  the  question 
How  they  became  fat?  is  a  deeper;  skill  in  preserving, 
creating,  the  true  rich  pastures  the  desideratum.  I  have 
said  before  of  this:  'It  is  not  by  levying  toll  on  the  Devil, 
my  Chancellor,  that  you  will  find  the  way  to  paradise  un- 
barred.'   We  want  the  devils  chained  up  while  still  wee 


REAL  CAUSES  235 

reekit  imps,  not  left  at  large  till  big,  then  mulcted.  In  all 
those  finance  measures,  too  little  of  that  intelligence  which 
would  always  keep  first  in  its  eye  who  were  the  real  pro- 
ducers, who  the  dissipators  of  wealth.  The  toiling  peasant 
and  the  luxurious  idler;  he  sees  it  so  far,  but  this  is  not 
far;  takes  many  a  much  more  wholesale  dissipator  for  a 
producer,  and  vice  versa. 

During  the  despicable  Marconi  buzz  of  angry  swarms,  I 
read  a  report  of  Mr.  Lloyd  George's  examination  before 
Committee.  Laughter,  said  the  report,  after  one  of  his 
statements.  Why  laughter?  The  words,  as  they  stood, 
were  of  no  significance;  without  the  (laughter)  in  brackets 
one  would,  in  reading,  have  passed  them  over  like  a  re- 
mark that  the  day  was  hot.  The  same  words  were  once 
incidentally  used  by  Cromwell  in  a  speech  he  had  to  make 
to  try  to  clear  himself  from  imputations  malice  cast  upon 
him,  though  except  those  laughers  I  suppose  none  noticed 
it.  I  was  far  from  laughing;  hope  it  was  an  unconscious 
sort  of  thing  on  Mr.  Lloyd  George 's  part.  Yes ;  you,  too, 
fronting  slanderers  and  revilers  in  integrity's  simplicity, 
felt  that  there  were  eyes  did  regard  you;  in  eternity's 
stillness,  men  who  had  suffered  the  like,  with  whom  you 
could  modestly  claim  a  humble  brotherhood.  Such  touches 
could  make  one  weep  for  'Soul  of  a  Devil.'1 

Churchill,  also,  endearing  Winston,  pugnacious  enough, 
as  the  British  Bull-dog  is  well  known  to  be,  yet,  they  say, 
very  peaceable  and  affectionate  in  the  house — the  private 
house,  I  did  not  mean  the  Parliament,  where  many  a  cur 
sits  whimpering  on  its  tail;  satisfied  with  one  tussle  selves 
two,  finds  bark  in  company  the  safer  plan.  Perhaps  Bull- 
Terrier,  still  of  the  old  fighting  breed  and  dreadful  of  grip, 
yet  more  endued  with  moving  graces  and  of  much  lovelier 
contour?    Much  righteous  Magistrates  and  needy  wretches 

1  His  description  of  the  Kaiser. 


236  EEAL  CAUSES 

whom  Want  had  driven  to  guilt  should  feel  a  difference  in 
him,  Home  Secretary;  and  yet  the  iron  rigour  not  to  be 
forgotten  there  or  elsewhere :  Did  not  some  nimbus  of  what 
no  'leaden-hearted,  timber-headed,  Right  Honourable  Sec- 
retary of  the  Home  Department'  might  be,  glitter  before 
his  eyes  ?  Too  gay  and  lightsome,  all  unequal  to  that  strife ! 
Apollo  compounded  with  Exeter  Hall,  and  the  composite 
clay  merely  veined  with  true  gold.  We  have  chosen  the 
faiths  of  the  platforms,  but  cannot  the  sage 's  mingle  there- 
with, his  prophecy  be  fairer  fulfilled?  No,  Gentlemen,  it 
cannot.  It  cannot  fail  to  become  compounded,  but  it  must 
not  be  sought  to  be.  The  aim  after  it  in  its  purity  might 
have  redeemed  all  shortcoming,  even,  possibly,  purified  it; 
but  aim  to  combine  just  what  pleases  in  it  with  the  follies 
it  banned  and  you'll  certainly  never  grow  wiser.  In  the 
Navy,  too,  with  heart  and  soul  he'd  strive  to  make  that 
bulwark  of  his  country  yet  stronger,  more  efficient.  And 
all  the  time  brooding  jealous  enmity,  preparing  for  the 
day  when  his  country  should  unite  its  strength  with  that  of 
the  nescient  and  mean  to  destroy  the  light-loving  noble. 
Oh  avatar,  mischance,  and  soul-blinding  Superstition! 

For  Sir  Edward  Grey,  on  the  other  hand,  I  cannot  say 
that  I  have  ever  felt  regard,  as  for  these  named  and  others 
not  named.  His  intellect  had  become  vulpine,  whether  it 
was  so  originally  or  not ;  yet  it  would  be  wholly  unjust  and 
absurd  to  heap  blame  for  the  war  on  his  single  pair  of 
shoulders.  The  task  before  him  was  so  different.  He  too, 
is  a  professed  Liberal;  but  the  faith  and  practice  which 
have  served  the  Liberal  in  home  matters,  are  totally  inap- 
plicable in  foreign.  You  cannot  there  go  begging  suffrages 
and  winning  by  majority,  though  the  Bidding  for  Allies  be 
very  similar,  and  victory  in  this  war,  if  got,  clearly  won 
by  majority,  neither  justice  nor  own  might.  There  you  are 
dealing  with  independent  powers,  to  whom  your  gods  and 


REAL  CAUSES  237 

all  the  incense  offered  to  them  may  chance  to  be  naught. 
Variously,  I  know;  and  those  who  merely  worship  other 
gods  can  easily  be  brought  into  idolater's  league;  wherein 
likewise  may  be  much  similarity  with  home  methods  and 
Coalitions.  At  home,  however,  subscription  to  first  article 
religious  is  found  in  all ;  abroad,  the  one  common  ground  is, 
profanely,  mundane  interest.  Hence,  with  no  man's  faith 
in  the  ever-living  interests,  sight  for  Fact,  or  trust  in  Jus- 
tice, the  compliances  and  artifices  of  this  world  were  this 
one 's  sole  resource ;  and  he  is  no  more  guilty  than  the  tens 
of  thousands  of  others  who  have  never  looked  beyond.  He 
has  never  delighted  in  malice,  and  even  the  'ice-cold  egoist' 
is  an  overshot.  A  certain  dried  up  barrenness  and  sterility 
of  soul  was  inevitable,  and  as  Britain's  Representative,  he 
has  been  in  the  full,  worst,  sense  of  the  word  an  Egoist; 
but  it  does  not  follow  that  he  has  himself  been  a  self-seeker. 
Nevertheless  I  do  reckon  him  the  black  well-spot  of  this 
Cabinet,  and  individual  through  whose  corrupted  being 
world's  woe  has  found  a  main  sluice.  He  is  more  of  a 
weakling  than  vicious  to  me,  yet  it  is  his  activities  have 
been  of  deadly  quality ;  and  with  a  man  of  more  veridical 
character  in  his  post,  all  things  had  been  immeasurably 
otherwise  than  they  are.  What  I  think  of  his  Policy,  I 
have  already  said.  That  he  did  not  of  his  own  conscious 
will  seek  war  I  believe,  that  in  humanity  he  sought  to  avert 
it ;  but  all  his  workings  wrought  for  war,  and  no  deliberate 
plotting  for  it  could  have  done  more  to  bring  it :  his  guilt 
therein  is  shared.  Grey's  face  is  stamped;  I  should  know 
him  for  an  Ill-doer  at  first  sight;  yet  there  is  something 
of  appealing  in  it:  It  was  the  unkind  fates  that  made  him 
thus.  Not  one  compact  and  framed  of  villainy  at  all,  but 
drifted  into  the  lees.  Doing  ill  that  supposed  good  might 
come,  celestial  aims  lost  ken  of,  with  a  thin  wiry  vigour 


238  REAL  CAUSES 

in  terrestrial;  pleadings  still  passionate  and  heart  beating 
humanly. 

Each  member  of  this  Ministry  had  had  his  own  private 
climb,  with  toil  and  scathe  enough,  ere  we  of  the  outer 
public  saw  the  Brilliant  Corps  emerge  victorious  on  the 
heights,  and  fresh  for  the  real  conquest,  now  about  to  be- 
gin. They  had  been  confusedly  manoeuvring  about  on  the 
tops  some  little  while.  For  it  was  not  till  Asquith  took  the 
lead  that  the  enchantments  dissolved.  The  Ministry  sprung 
into  being,  and  peculiar  gifts  of  each  shone  out  enhanced 
by  union.  Something  of  radiancy  and  exultation!  Here 
we  are,  at  last,  on  the  summits ;  the  unseen  bonds  which  held 
us,  mists  which  hid  us,  miraculously  gone;  the  longed-for 
Opportunity  before  us,  and  we  alert  to  make  the  most  of  it. 
What  hitherto  we've  talked  and  dreamt  of,  now  we'll  do. 
In  Messrs.  Churchill  and  Lloyd  George,  this  inner  radiance 
was  palpable ;  Sir  Rufus x  glanced  it  back.  Grown  men  who 
could  be  boys  still.  And  an  Irrepressible  which  partly 
sprang  from  the  light  realms  of  eternal  day,  partook  a  little 
of  the  spirit  of  the  sons  of  the  gods  when  they  have  over- 
come obstruction  and  march  sportfully  forward  to  tasks 
more  congenial,  which  they  feel  their  strength  easy  for. 
Even  in  Sire  Asquith  one  seemed  to  trace  a  quiet  sober 
vein  of  similar  kind.  In  those  first  years  of  his  premier- 
ship, he  hardly  delivered  an  unofficial  oration  to  voluntary 
audience  without  those  walls  wherein  he  did  not  make  some 
reference  to  'New  Ideas':  this  was  continually  the  clause 
in  commendation  of  man  spoken  of  'He  was  open  to  New 
Ideas. '  "Well,  do  for  God 's  sake,  tip  the  scuttle  containing 
anybody  shut ;  neither  run  after  Will-o  '-the-wisps  while  the 
old  sun  remains  in  heaven.  These  things  to  contemplative 
mortal,  such  a  one  as  New-Idealists  denominate  '  Reactive, ' 

1Sir  Eufus  Isaacs,  subsequently  Lord  Chief  Justice. 


REAL  CAUSES  239 

were  beautiful,  hopeful,  pathetic,  despairful.  Still  only 
thereabout.  So  very  much  in  all  that  song  was  sung  out 
lang  syne;  to  stable  Actives,  of  sum  weighed  and  known; 
whilst  by  the  Chasers  of  Illusion,  they  are  dismissed  as 
stale,  yet  never  known.  There  was  nothing  there  of  a  spirit 
which  really  knew  the  day  and  its  Needs,  had  come  forth 
equipt  for  battle  therein,  earnest  resolved  for  that  New, 
which  also  dates  further  back  than  geology's  epochs. 

It  was  as  a  United  Ministry  that  these  men  emerged,  and 
as  such  that  they  have  stood.  Their  Chief  is  the  worthiest 
among  them,  and  their  loyalty  to  him  has  nothing  of  make- 
believe  in  it.  All  gratefully  acknowledge  that  Sire  Asquith 
has  verily  been  their  Sire  and  Bond;  without  whom  they 
had  never  remained  one,  nor  come  through  these  seas  and 
straits  unwrecked.1  His  leadership  has  not  been  nominal, 
very  actual;  and  in  it  he  has  shown  qualities  of  a  real 
Captain,  some  'king-becoming'  virtues,  nor  lacked  'discre- 
tion. '  Would  it  not  have  been  better  if  he  had  been  King, 
or  President,  not  at  will?  Better  for  us,  and  better  for 
him?  Who  can  reckon  what  a  difference  it  might  have 
made  to  him,  and  whether  he  had  then  seen  chiefest  enemy 
of  man  in  Kaiser  Wilhelm  ?  A  ground  of  truth  to  stand  on, 
'stead  of  falsehood,  and  much  his  by  assured  right  which  he 
now  holds  casual?  And  without  the  worthy  Chief,  where 
had  the  Peers  been?  With  worthy  Chief,  they  are  seldom 
long  lacking;  it  was  never  he  that  loved  to  be  sole.  Sub- 
ordination, co-ordination,  have  not  these  things  been  here  ? 
Not  in  any  very  human  kind,  I  know ;  most  loose,  free-and- 
easy,  nonchalant,  yet  honest  and  perfectly  genuine  so  far 
as  existent  at  all.  Your  oath  is,  you  will  never  have  them 
except  so  and  casual?    Then  you  will  never  have  a  Minis- 

1  The  reader  remembers  that  thia  book  was  written  before  Tory 
malice  wrecked  the  Ministry,  and  gave  first  public  note  of  Britain's 
collapse. — Note  of  July,  1915. 


240  REAL  CAUSES 

try,  united  or  disunited,  that  can  lead  you  to  a  blessed 
goal.  This  has  owed  its  power  and  coherence  to  indestructi- 
ble instincts  at  variance  with  what  it  enunciates,  most 
imintelligently  professes;  and  it,  assuredly,  has  not  led  to 
a  blessed  goal. 

In  the  Domestic  Campaigns  one  generally  wished  them 
All  speed,  if  constantly  pained  that  they  could  never  aim 
at  anything  better.  Redemption  by  Legislative  Enact- 
ments, well  canvassed  and  voted  upon  in  National  Court  of 
Pi-powder ;  it  is  their  and  the  world 's  faith  these  days,  but 
it  never  was  or  will  be  a  Man's.  Complete  impotence  to 
stir  in  aught  moral,  vital,  perennial,  with  seldom  a  passing 
perception  that  this  were  so  much  as  desirable.  Occasion- 
ally, a  leaving  of  the  powerful  unchallenged  for  open  defi- 
ance of  ordinance  while  the  weaker  were  punished,  in  a 
manner  which  I  should  think  even  they  must  have  felt 
uneasy  shame  for:  'King'  Carson  and  'The  Times':  pal- 
trier rebel  or  less  moneyed  rag.  But  it  were  vain  to  look 
here  for  a  soul  bent  on  Justice.  Framing  and  carrying  a 
Measure,  getting  elected  to  do  it,  by  the  known  arts  all,  can 
leave  little  of  that  in  the  breast.  Only  such  'Justice'  as  is 
shouted  for,  and  brings  garlands  to  the  champion  of.  Even 
of  the  problems  they  did  confess  a  need  to  tackle,  all  the 
more  important  had  to  be  shelved.  Labour,  for  instance. 
Visibly  hopeless  to  try  grappling  with  that :  still  the  day 's 
quarrel,  and  leave  it  till  to-morrow.  I  do  not  blame  them 
for  not  trying  it:  It  was  impossible  for  them;  nor  could 
they  have  tried  it  with  the  slightest  chance  of  success. 
They  were  sufficiently  encompassed  with  Futility;  and  are 
not  the  kind  of  men  could  ever  cope  with  the  like  of  that. 
Nevertheless,  one  nearly  always  rejoiced  in  what  they  did 
do  there  too.  As  composers  of  a  Strike,  active,  prompt, 
intelligent,  to  the  utmost  of  their  ability;  offering  great 
contrast  to  the  Let  Alone.    So  that  one  was  apt  to  fervently 


REAL  CAUSES  241 

pray,  Go  on,  go  on ;  do  try  your  hand  at  that,  even  you,  and 
you  will  make  something  of  it  that  is  not  worse  than  naught. 
But  alas !  how  could  they  ?  They  had  not  the  power,  either 
spiritual  or  temporal,  and  every  step  they  took  only  ren- 
dered their  impotence  in  both  kinds  the  more  apparent. 
Safer  to  hold  by  Licensing  Bills,  Budgets,  Iusurances,  and 
darling  Home  Rule,  with  Parliament  Acts  as  a  necessary 
preliminary  if  you  were  not  to  be  altogether  a  laughing 
stock:  these  were  the  things  they  had  manage  of,  and  you 
cannot  gather  grapes  off  a  thorn. 

After  all,  what  is  this  brilliant  talent;  this  energetic 
administration,  magnificent  skill  in  organising,  and  thor- 
oughness of  co-operate  working  ?  It  is  essentially  a  Business 
talent  and  no  more.  The  change  from  Tory  hebetude  or 
chicane  has  been  like  the  ousting  of  a  torpid  Board  of 
Directors  for  the  incoming  of  a  Smart  Set  who  can  make 
things  go.  It  may  be  much,  only  one  stroke  of  human  gen- 
ius had  surpassed  the  whole  of  it.  And  had  ten  men,  with 
the  fear  of  God  in  their  hearts  had  our  nation  in  keeping, 
we  had  seen  happier  issue. 

The  Opposition  which  this  Ministry  met  at  home  was 
mostly  too  despicable  for  comment ;  yet  it  was  notable  how 
even  their  degree  of  sincerity  raised  a  poisonous  animosity, 
out-breaking  instant  on  the  hint  of  integrity's  might.  Nor 
were  the  snarling  curs  unbacked  by  all  the  devil 's  potence : 
whereby  it  was  another  time  made  obvious  how  utterly 
impossible  it  would  be,  ever  to  carry  the  least  reform  which 
went  to  the  roots  and  touched  men  in  earnest,  by  the  voting 
method.  One  felt  much  sympathy  with  the  Ministry  under 
those  attacks  by  baseless  slander,  and  obstruction  by  en- 
tirely contemptible  tactic.  Now  they  and  their  slanderers 
have  kissed,  and  hiss  together,  pouring  out  a  flood  of  yet 
more  baseless  slanders ;  themselves  are  filled  with  a  venom- 


242  REAL  CAUSES 

ous  enmity  against  that  nobly  human,  mere  tinct  whereof 
had  made  them  momentary  martyrs. 

Kaiser  Wilhelm  raised  up  for  something  great?  Sire 
Asquith  and  Company,  what  are  they  here  for?  No  man 
ever  knows.  And  certainly  I  did  not  at  first  at  all  connect 
the  two,  nor  think  of  these  as  specially  driving  upon  war 
upon  Germany.  Since  no  division  deep  as  hell,  if  wide  as 
human  error,  might  rather  in  the  early  flush,  have  hoped 
approximation.  It  was  so  surprising  to  see  any  sort  of 
genuine  talent  appear  there,  that  perhaps  one  a  little  for- 
got for  an  instant  how  talent  alone  never  saves  a  soul  from 
ill  course,  often  only  speeds  it  the  swifter  thereon.  Clearly, 
they  were  a  Constellation  of  Merit:  Which  must  produce 
unwonted  results  of  some  sort  ?  Yes.  But  beyond  that  lay 
an  inarticulate  premonition,  foreboding  and  foreshadow, 
which  was  authentic,  though  I  am  ever  shy  of  such  things, 
know  it  a  perilous  and  inadmissible  practice  to  dwell  on 
them.  Man's  mind  does  forecast  of  what  it  cannot  fore- 
tell;  yet  shall  only  accept  this  as  urgent  to  see,  be  alive  to 
developments,  not  surrender  its  conscious  intelligence  in 
hope  of  occult  revelation,  put  faith  in  a  dreamer's  prophecy. 
Later,  when  they  seemed  quite  drowning  in  futility,  or 
stewing  in  their  own  melted  butter,  if  you  prefer  that  de- 
scription, one  thought,  It  was  only  for  this  then?  Reduc- 
tion to  absurdity,  and  a  very  climax  of  folly  proven  fool- 
ishness. Now  it  is  too  apparent  for  what  they  were  raised 
up.  To  pour  the  sweet  milk  of  concord  into  hell,  confound 
all  unity  on  earth ;  gain  a  fresh  lease  by  Crime,  since  per- 
suasive Nonsense  would  no  longer  serve;  and  declare  anew 
into  what  frightful  deeds  a  fanatical  superstition  and  sys- 
temic mendacity  forever  plunge  men. 

Yes ;  they  are  Men  of  Blood  these  Cabinet  Ministers,  and 
the  British  who  follow,  begot  them.    No  cannibal  more  so, 


REAL  CAUSES  243 

as  much  so.  To  take  up  the  facts  of  this  universe,  of  man 's 
life  and  duties  in  it,  as  they  are  not:  there  is  nothing  so 
spreads  desolation  and  havoc ;  the  savage 's  ferocity  is  inno- 
cent beside  this.  All  the  charities  and  philanthropies,  sanc- 
timonious virtues,  self-righteousnesses  and  unctuous  hum- 
bugs, will  not  free  from  blood-guiltiness  those  who  have 
done  this,  nor  all  the  skills  and  ingenuities.  In  their  relig- 
ion, kingship,  political  faiths,  life's  deed  and  conduct  gen- 
erally,  the  British  are  a  people  sodden  in  mendacity;  and 
none  other  so  lay  the  cities  in  ashes,  drive  misery  homeless. 
No  brute,  ripping  up  the  womb,  is  such  a  doer  of  atrocity 
as  the  'peacemaker'  who  has  lied  before  God.  How  per- 
fectly they  keep  the  tune,  and  show  everywhere  the  same ! 
Coax  Belgium  into  the  gap;  then  weep  for  its  fate.  All 
bowels  moved  with  compassion;  money  and  goods  shall 
pour  out  in  floods,  each  manly  sinew  be  strung  for  revenge. 
But  never  a  man  with  valour  and  humanity  enough  to  say, 
Suffer  not  destruction  for  us.  Thus  would  the  Church 
'redeem'  whom  it  has  thrust  to  perdition;  vends  poison  for 
salvation. 

But,  though  I  say  this  with  most  solemn  emphasis,  and 
entire  conviction,  it  should  be  clear  from  what  has  gone 
before,  that  I  attach  no  peculiar  blame  to  the  Cabinet,  do 
not,  in  my  heart,  judge  any  single  member  of  it.  Of  all  of 
us,  it  may  well  be  said  that  we  have  a  blurr,  or  indeter- 
minate aspect ;  would  puzzle  Minerva 's  owl,  much  more  all 
Olympus  to  decide  of  any  of  us  whether  he  were  fundamen- 
tally good  or  bad. 

Nathless,  in  more  common  parlance  than  either  of  the 
above  two  paragraphs  are  couched  in,  I  am  afraid  I  do 
very  heavily  reckon  the  Liberal  Ministry  among  the  Real 
Causes  of  this  war.  I  believe  that  these,  more  than  any 
other  body  of  men  we  could  name,  are  Guilty  for  this  ter- 
rible cataclysm;  and  that,  were  there  any  true  Britons 


244  REAL  CAUSES 

capable  of  assuming  command  in  their  Nation,  they  would 
lead  these  to  the  scaffold.  As  it  is,  who  is  there  could  have 
the  face  to  do  it  ?  If  any  revulsion  took  place,  of  which  one 
sees  no  hope,  there  are  plenty,  I  know,  would  have  the  face 
to  uproar,  perhaps  slay  in  mob  tumult.  But  where  could 
Court  to  doom  them  in  manhood 's  severe  equity  be  found  ? 
The  prosecution  would  have  abundant  evidence  to  offer. 
And  if,  in  an  attorney's  cunning,  these  flatter  themselves 
they  kept  within  the  letter  of  the  law,  that  would  only 
damn  them  doubly  in  the  eyes  of  the  human  judge.  Even 
had  the  anti-German  bias  of  these  men,  which  led  them  to 
be  everywhere  opposite  with  her,  favourable  to  her  adver- 
saries, not  been  itself  vicious  in  origin,  the  whole  of  their 
policy  of  subtle  Entente,  no  Alliance,  etc. :  actual  cover  to 
France,  curry  of  favour  with  Russia,  practical  bond  to  fight 
with  them  and  pretence  of  impartial  free  hand,  was  high 
treason  against  the  Maker  of  all  men.  But,  apart  from  that 
and  on  a  lower  ground,  the  giving  of  any  manner  of  prom- 
ise, express  or  implied,  to  support  France  versus  Germany, 
so  long  as  her  alliance  with  Russia  existed,  was  a  direct  be- 
trayal of  our  country 's  interests ;  the  secret  undertaking  to 
defend  France's  coasts,  with  public  announcement,  for 
home  and  German  consumption,  that  no  obligation  had  been 
entered  into  was  thoroughly  traitorous.  And  attorney's 
quibblings  do  not  alter  facts.  No  obligation  to  fight  for 
France,  only  one  to  'defend'  a  small  portion  of  that  ample 
territory:  Which,  if  it  amount  to  bond  to  fight  tooth  and 
nail  for  the  whole,  who  shall  say  that  we  lied  in  our  throats  1 
God's  truth,  sirs,  I  think  it  was  in  your  souls,  if  any 
succedaneum  for  salt  be  left  among  you. 

Ponder  that  White  Paper  'Case,'  the  moral  putridity  of 
men  could  propound  it  as  justification  of  their  ways, 
nation  could  accept  it !  I  grant  it  runs  smooth  and  seeming 
true.    As  to  some  minds  what  does  not  ?    A  little  reflection 


REAL  CAUSES  245 

is  required  for  the  ghastly  horrors  it  shrouds  to  be  seen; 
and  then  so  many  would  much  rather  not  see  them,  prefer 
to  accept  without  question.  You  must  try  its  soft  sward, 
would  you  know  what  a  cess  pit  it  floats  on.  And,  in  times 
of  national  excitement,  when  is  thought  ever  given,  trial 
made,  especially  by  men  who  read  in  a  foregone  conclusion 
concurrent,  want  nothing  save  a  plausible  show  of  godli- 
ness, as  demanded  by  the  Decency  Principle?  "What  else 
maintains  our  pretty  manikin,  the  King;  and  is  not  he  an 
Atlas  to  uphold  the  world?  The  Ministry  judged  wisely 
their  mess  would  be  swallowed  whole  without  enquiry,  a 
right  British  brew;  yet  I  do  not  wonder  their  Censor  has 
been  very  careful  none  save  writers  of  a  known  tenor 
should  be  permitted  to  pass  remarks  upon  it.  Never  seri- 
ously name  Carlyle  in  this  relation :  For  if  there  be  a  rock 
on  which  we  might  split,  were  it  not  an  awakening  of  the 
nation's  sense  to  how  we  are  flouting  his  word,  half  felt 
divine  by  all?  Take  his  name  in  vain  a  little,  avoid  it 
mostly,  spit  not  openly  upon  him,  and  the  sordid  mob 
shall  even  liken  Crown  Prince  to  Fat  Boy  of  Cumberland, 
never  reflects  whose  Ententes  revived  bygone  Infamous 
Projects. 

It  would  be  difficult,  however,  to  say  how  far  the  Min- 
istry themselves  knew  their  '  Case '  would  bear  no  examina- 
tion. I  suppose,  in  the  main,  they  just  trusted  it  would 
bear  all  it  would  be  likely  to  get.  Besides,  the  thing  done, 
they  had  to  put  forward  what  excuse  they  could;  and,  in 
prudence,  one  they  would  not  need  to  go  back  from  as 
other  facts  became  known.  So  just  tell  the  facts,  how 
damned  so  ever;  the  proper  way  of  looking  askance  at 
them  being  simultaneously  infused  into  breasts  gratefully 
recipient,  we  shall  be  canonised  Saints,  each  subsequent 
revelation  add  to  our  glory.  No  cunning  concoction  could 
have  matched  this  spontaneous  simplicity.     And,  if  you 


246  REAL  CAUSES 

will  know  it,  this  is  the  way  the  devil  confesses  his  sins 
our  days,  as  in  others  too,  it  was  evident  what  a  bishop 
Reynard  had  made.  It  is  not  probable  they  felt  much 
uneasiness  when  they  promulgated  their  'Case,'  or  queasi- 
ness  of  conscience  in  creating  it  by  act  before ;  the  anointed 
attorneyisms,  there  less  proudly  avowed  than  modestly  left 
for  discovery,  were  only  such  as  they  were  well  practiced 
in,  selves  took  for  admirable;  no  worse  than  what  elec- 
tioneering and  party  strife  had  made  them  long  familiar 
with.  A  man  does  not  feel  uneasy  when  working  in  an 
element  he  has  full  manage  of,  feels  himself  thoroughly 
versed  in ;  sees  no  man  worth  note  in  his  nation  or  among 
his  Allies  to  whom  anointed  attorneyism  is  not  wisdom  and 
the  common  cry  of  curs  no  voice  of  God. 

But,  behind  all  this  of  the  no  integrity  in  pursuance  of 
aim,  there  is  the  aim  itself:  the  fact  of  the  jealous  animus, 
and  deadly  enmity.  These  men  were  adverse  to  the  Ger- 
man from  Elemental  Repugnance,  that  is  the  bottom  fact. 
It  was  this  native  bias  which  coloured  everything  to  them, 
and  determined  their  acts.  Their  anti-German  policy  was 
voluntary ;  they  were  not  driven  into  that  course,  but  took  it 
of  their  own  initiative.  It  was  of  their  own  free-will  that 
they  took  that  side,  ever  entered  into  the  Continental  Com- 
binations at  all.  At  the  promptings  of  their  own  souls  it 
was  that  they  abandoned  neutrality  to  countenance  the 
opposites  of  Germany;  out  of  a  fear  of  and  animosity  to 
Germany,  with  no  other  call,  they  gave  cover  and  protection 
to  her  adversaries,  zealously  co-operated  with  them:  And 
were  thus  express  Causers  of  the  war.  They  did  not  want 
war  with  the  German?  No,  damn  him;  not  if  hell  sit 
quiet  and  conform  to  all  our  regulations  for  him.  Fine 
peace-seekers !  And  more  advantage  may  have  been  taken 
of  the  cover  afforded  than  their  so  excellent  wisdoms  had 
calculated  upon  ?    Very  probably !    It  was  of  old  said  Bet- 


REAL  CAUSES  247 

ter  to  meet  a  bear  robbed  of  her  whelps — .  It  is  useless 
arguing  that  a  man's  native  bias  may  be  just:  you  never 
saw  that  proceed  thus.  This  bias  was  vicious,  that  of  men 
sub-conscious  of  self  -treason ;  no  seekers  of  severe  truth, 
but  gone  after  popular  causes ;  resolved  to  uphold  the  pal- 
pably untrue  (so  long  as  it  gives  them  no  inconvenience) 
and  happy  in  the  nonchalant  insolences  free  to  the  Minis- 
ters of  a  Mock  King ;  pledged  to  superstition  and  saturated 
in  mendacity; — the  enmity  which  such  men  feel  toward 
Fidelity,  wherever  it  appear.  Under  the  circumstances,  it 
was  natural  for  the  evil  to  come  to  head  on  the  Foreign. 
For  at  home  what  was  there  to  excite  their  rage?  "When 
the  counsel  for  each  side  have  exhausted  expletives,  they  sit 
down  together,  twin  brethren  of  one  communion.  But  in 
the  German  they  saw  that  which  they  both  feared  and 
abhorred.  Took  counsel  in  earnest  to  circumvent,  raised 
Combination  around.  Would  threat  but  suffice,  and  no 
other  member  of  the  gracious  Combine  use  the  advantage 
secured  him!  Not  Men  of  Blood,  then,  in  your  esteem? 
Salved  guiltless  by  such  provisos? 

Concerning  The  Ministry's  conduct  since  the  war  began, 
I  shall  only  make  a  few  merely  incidental  remarks. 

That  they  are  prosecuting  it  with  vigour  and  determina- 
tion, 'managing'  it  with  high  business  ability,1  and  will 
not  be  stopped  anywhere  for  want  of  resolution,  is  clear. 
And  so  long  as  their  side  continues  to  have  enormous  pre- 
ponderance of  strength,  supply,  and  they  have  opportunity 
to  injure  the  German,  while  he  has  next  to  none  to  injure 
them,  this  capacity  to  keep  in  order  and  overwhelm  by 
weight  of  numbers  may  suffice.  With  wind  and  tide  to 
help,  and  all  the  popularities  to  aid  success-crowned  ef- 
fort,  no  pinch  worth  speaking  of  felt  at  home,  however 

1  The  reader,  I  hope,  understands  well  that  such  praises  are  meant 
for  the  Ministry,  not  for  Officialdom. 


248  REAL  CAUSES 

many  thousand  homes  be  ruined  abroad,  they  may  be  able 
to  ride  through  in  triumph.  Neither  let  the  reader  imagine 
that  the  skill  required  in  these  Huntsmen,  to  keep  so  huge 
and  heterogeneous  a  pack  in  good  heart  and  discipline,  fell 
steady  in  attack  on  the  One  at  bay,  is  a  small  skill.  If  you 
attempt  to  reckon  the  compass  of  it,  you  will  find  it  a  very 
considerable.  You  might  prefer  to  be  shot  than  to  exercise 
it  so,  yet  must  still  admit  the  considerableness  of  the  skill ; 
and  the  major  part  of  it  is  quite  invisible  to  you,  by  the 
general  public  never  guessed  at.  Plainly  incompetent  men 
they  dismiss,  and  choose  able ;  are  alert  and  prepared  for 
emergencies,  ready  with  manifold  expedients;  keen  in 
scheme,  and  energetic  in  execution.  Sagacity  is  not  among 
their  virtues,  and  their  foresight  is  of  short  range,  material. 
No  Event  that  a  man  of  the  world  could  have  surmised, 
would  likely  take  them  unawares ;  and  none  that  a  faithful 
soul  had  known  probable,  but  would  astonish.  For  they  are 
not  reverent  of  facts;  and,  beyond  their  counters,  do  not 
know  the  causes  of  effects.  Of  that  deeper  intuition  and 
CEdipus  skill  which  can  make  a  man  the  saviour  of  his  na- 
tion, there  is  not  a  vestige  among  them:  Which  is  a  peril- 
ous want  in  a  Cabinet  of  Statesmen.  But  neither  the  course 
of  Providence  has  ever  been  their  study,  nor  its  Births 
their  expectation.  With  all  that  'Ability'  of  theirs,  they 
are  capable  of  the  extremity  of  Folly ;  and  to  them  Wisdom 
is  foolishness.  Wherefore,  in  their  choice  of  men,  also, 
they  have  no  real  discernment.  How  many  times  has  one 
seen  them  exalt  the  utterly  worthless  and  even  detestable! 
They  are  called  the  '  Government ' ;  and  the  first  quality  of 
a  Governor  is  that  he  know  a  man,  can  search  out  sterling 
merit  through  its  every  disguise.  Whereas  these,  properly 
speaking,  can  only  grant  to  applicants;  and,  so  far  from 
seeking  out  the  veritably  worthy  of  high  trust  and  office, 
would  thoroughly  distaste  these,  if  they  did  come  across 


REAL  CAUSES  249 

them:  But  they  are  not  likely  to  be  troubled  so,  for  none 
of  that  breed  apply  in  such  quarters. 

Moreover,  it  is  my  deliberate  estimate  that,  however  these 
men  may  swim  customarily  virtuous  in  success,  in  strait, 
they  would  stop  at  nothing ;  that,  were  sufficient  pressure  to 
come  upon  them  whilst  in  power,  there  is  no  crime,  mean- 
ness or  depravity  they  would  not  sink  to.  Whether  the 
cloak  of  unctuous  attorneyism  would  be  discarded  or  not, 
I  cannot  say;  the  keeping  of  it  would  not  sweeten.  Hav- 
ing never  lived  in  fidelity  to  the  infinite  of  right  and  wrong, 
but  only  in  acceptance  of  plausible  substitute,  necessity 
compelling  the  abandonment  of  their  Principles,  what 
would  be  left?  Which  leads  me  to  the  second  of  my  in- 
cidental remarks;  It  struck  me  at  once,  though  not  sur- 
prisingly, having  long  seen  it  inevitable,  how,  the  moment 
anything  like  a  real  crisis  occurs,  Free  Parliament  has  to 
cast  its  cherished  democratical  self-government  procedures 
overboard  and  drift  straight  toward  a  Convention1  Tyr- 
anny. Nothing  else  for  it,  ever,  if  it  is  not  to  collapse  help- 
less. And  if  acute  crisis  came  on  it  at  home,  the  Govern- 
ment still  determined  to  maintain  itself,  you  would  see  the 
Convention  Tyranny  arrive.  We  have  had  a  slight  touch 
of  this  in  the  Censorship ;  and  the  nation  only  has  not  found 
this  tyrannous,  because,  on  the  whole,  it  has  concurred,  has 
itself  been  disposed  to  exercise  a  very  strict  censorship. 
I,  at  least,  could  find  no  British  publisher,  or  literary  agent 
even,  who  after  being  informed  that  this  MS.  did  not  ac- 
count the  British  cause  all-righteous,  the  German  damned, 
would  so  much  as  read  it.  The  Democrat  perhaps  imagines 
that  the  nation's  concurrence  in  a  law  passed  on  it,  pre- 
vents that  law  being  tyrannous,  but  he  is  profoundly  mis- 
taken.   Every  law  is  just  or  tyrannous  in  its  own  nature, 

1  Tyranny  as  exercised  by  '  The  Convention '  in  the  French  Revolu- 
tion— Jeouvre. 


250  REAL  CAUSES 

irrespective  of  what  any  mortal  thinks  of  it:  which  is  one 
of  the  eternal  truths  the  democrat  denies.  Cromwell  had 
to  interfere  with  Free  Speech,  and  did  it  'as  a  man,  not 
as  a  hungry  slave. '  A  thing  to  provoke  comparisons !  The 
Loose  Tongue  was  loose  enough  before,  loud  and  disgusting 
enough  before ;  yet  the  Government  never  dreamt  of  exer- 
cising any  humane  interference  with  that.  Nor  has  since. 
Not  the  foul  chimneys  on  fire  has  it  sought  to  quench.  The 
more  flames  and  soot  these  belch  forth,  darkening  the  sky 
and  spreading  delirium,  the  more  filthy  disgusting  every 
newspaper  and  hoarding,  the  more  their  cause  prospers: 
therein  they  delight  and  themselves  ply  the  bellows.  But 
no  man  shall  report  more  of  fact  than  they  consent  to,  tell 
any  truth  they  might  reckon  dangerous  to  them:  lies  will 
mostly  help,  and  such  few  as  do  not  can  be  denied  with 
added  credit.  Is  this  the  dealing  of  Man  or  of  hungry 
slave  ? 

And,  along  with  this  attempt  to  pass  everything  ad- 
dressed to  their  own  People  through  a  sieve,  you  have  their 
own  practice  of  addressing  other  Peoples  straight  athwart 
the  noses  of  their  Governments.  Lord  Fisher's  Letter  to 
the  American  People  directly  in  the  teeth  of  President  Wil- 
son's  express  utterances!  What  a  beautiful  piece  of  po- 
liteness to  that  President!  And  to  the  People  who  had 
chosen  him?  You  might  wonder  how,  in  the  name  of 
common  prudence  and  the  dictates  of  self-preservation,  any 
Government  could  do  these  things.  We  have  had  many 
examples  of  it,  far  worse  than  that  one,  as  in  the  Boer 
War ;  in  fact,  it  is  quite  habitual.  If  a  Government  make 
a  deliberate  practice  of  treating  every  other  Government  as 
a  thing  of  naught,  of  appealing  to  the  Peoples  not  to  be 
deceived  by  such  a  set  of  ill-doers,  or  foolish  misguided 
persons,  how  does  it  expect  to  be  treated  itself?  Mocking 
at  all  Respect  for  Authorities  in  other  nations,  where  does 


REAL  CAUSES  251 

it  expect  to  find  that  Respect  in  its  own  f  Apart  from  the 
morality  of  it,  the  thing  looks  like  suicidal  mania;  and 
assuredly  is  suicidal.  When  British  Governing  Persons 
propose  conquering  a  foreign  nation,  they  say  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  it: — We  come  not  as  enemies  0  People!  but  as 
deliverers.  Those  who  have  hitherto  ruled  over  you  have 
been  your  oppressors.  Them  we  will  now  oust;  and,  we 
taking  the  country  for  our  pains,  you  shall  see  what  a  dif- 
ference you  get  in  us. — They  are  a  kind  of  Divine  Mis- 
sionaries, then?  Such  is  much  their  own  persuasion,  and 
very  loudly  their  own  assertion.  From  the  earliest  days, 
men  have  lived  under  all  manner  of  Governments,  and  the 
records  tell  of  many  an  heroical,  Prince  and  People.  But 
never  till  late  was  the  true  Eureka  found:  WE  are  the 
Angels  of  Light  can  heal  all  your  woes.  They  answer: 
Not  unto  us,  but  our  Principle.  How  apply  it  so  to 
America?  And  in  Germany,  as  yet,  you  seem  rather  shy 
of  trying  it.  Not  much  chance  of  a  hearing  there?  No 
Teuton  apt  to  look  twice  at  you,  put  in  comparison  with 
whom  he  has  got  already?  Take  a  lower  key:  It  is  just 
the  game.  It  was  so  we  won  our  elections  here  at  home; 
and,  if  we  can  persuade  the  foreign  People,  we  win;  if 
their  Governors  persuade  ours,  they  win.  Each  must  have 
his  wits  about  him;  try  all  arts  to  gain  over  the  other's 
following,  be  'live  to  circumvent  his  similar  tricks.  And 
between  Confessors  of  one  Faith  no  offence  taken  ?  For  the 
playing  of  this  game  is  no  breach  of  the  Principles ;  a  thing 
done  in  fullest  conformity  therewith.  The  world  has  seen 
many  queer  Missionaries,  confident  of  their  own  divinity, 
but  surely  these  are  among  the  strangest.  When  will  they 
be  put  in  the  Museums,  known  only  to  the  learned  ? 

And  it  is  for  the  profession  of  these  Democratical  Faiths 
by  the  Allies  (how  Russia  came  to  be  numbered  among 
them,  better  not  enquire),  that  America  must  sympathise 


252  REAL  CAUSES 

with  them,  ban  the  German  as  an  excommunicant  ?  Ter- 
rible forever  is  the  Giant  Superstition,  with  body  power- 
less, shadow  omnipotent.1  You  Americans  and  you  Britons 
what  is  it  save  that  Shadow  which  has  made  you  and  keeps 
you  blind  to  substance  and  essence?  Certainly,  you  will 
never  see  the  Temple  or  the  King  x  till  the  giant  has  got  his 
quietus. 

I  spoke  of  the  all-importance  of  the  Way  to  power,  and 
it  is  sadly  exemplified  here.  Had  there  been  a  clean  road  to 
world 's  honour  open  to  them,  Sire  Asquith  and  most  of  his 
company  had  undoubtedly  travelled  on  it ;  and  it  is  not  of 
many  you  can  say  so  much.  They  climbed  to  eminence  by 
the  ways  there  were,  and  could  not  Reform  After:  none 
ever  can.  Wisdom  and  all  nobleness  of  character,  sincerity 
and  sterling  manhood,  had  departed  from  them,  not  aug- 
mented in  them,  ere  they  came  to  power,  by  their  practices 
in  reaching  power.  From  early  days  they  trafficked  in 
votes,  and  truth  cannot  be  balloted  for.  It  was  by  profess- 
ing allegiance  to  the  People's  Will,  and  not  by  obedience 
to  the  Almighty's  laws,  that  they  rose  in  this  world;  and, 
the  faith  they  took  up  having  entered  their  souls,  in  it  have 
they  culminated;  no  more  waiting  consent  of  the  People, 
but  running  fast  on  before  them,  to  lead  indeed, — into 
deeds  very  horrible.  Faculty!  My  friends,  we  have  gone 
far,  if  this  is  to  excuse.  Time  was  when,  the  higher  the 
gifts,  the  more  severe  the  condemnation.  But  it  is  the 
greatest  of  tragedies,  this  of  the  capable  of  the  good  sinking 
to  evil ;  and,  sinking  more  by  suction  of  foul  element,  than 
any  native  proclivity  to  vice.  To  quote  myself: — 'These 
'men  whom  you  know,  as  you  know  the  sun  is  light,  to  be 
'noble  and  pure,  capable,  it  may  be  of  the  very  highest, 
'many  hundreds  of  lives  of  true  sterling  worth  and  sim- 

t-Viele,  'The  Tale'  by  Goethe.  Translated  end  of  Vol.  4,  Carlyle's 
Miscellanies. 


REAL  CAUSES  253 

'plicity,  little  by  little  the  foul  popular  stream  sucks  them 
'in;  they  are  not  conscious  of  their  peril,  they  know  not 
'  they  do  ill.  Man  cannot  live  passive,  who  grows,  not  rots ; 
'without  the  constant,  collected,  and  most  earnest  effort, 
'  where  were  he  ?  They  go  down ;  folly,  insincerity,  systemic 
'unveracity,  ignavia,  creep  in;  the  good  plants  wither,  the 
'foul  weeds  grow  apace.  Lovely  were  they  as  the  angels 
'and  the  sons  of  heaven.  Surely  God  will  redeem  them! 
'Where  is  their  sin;  how  could  they  have  known?  See 
'them  in  a  ten-year  space,  and  where  is  the  soul  you  wor- 
'  shipped  ?  Gone,  and  left  but  a  wrack  behind !  the  impos- 
sible horror  is  done.  You  cannot  love  them  now;  your 
'  sorrow  turns  you  away ;  your  holiest  pity  would  lead  you 
'to  smite,  that  the  spirit  be  released  ere  the  hideous  meta- 
'morphosis  go  further. 

'If  a  man  did  not  believe  in  Justice,  he  would  revolt, 
'  even  hopelessly.  But  it  is  unfathomable,  though  the  voices 
'ever  monish  that  all  is  love  and  justice.  Thou  knowest 
'not  what  He  doth  with  them  or  with  thee;  yet  trustest 
'absolutely.  All  mortal  is  clay  and  the  Potter  is  wise. 
'Little  one,  quiet  thy  thought.' 

This  is  a  worse  thing  than  death ;  and  let  no  man  gratu- 
late  himself  he  has  escaped  it.  Cromwell,  dying,  thought  it 
a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Living  God, 
could  only  trust  in  His  mercy.  But  why  should  one  sorrow 
for  a  Kaiser  slain  by  these  ?  Not  for  him,  though  for  them. 
Because  such  deeds  are  hideous,  and  the  Race  of  Man  is 
accountable  if  it  lets  them  be  done;  shall  suffer,  even  as 
they  have  suffered,  in  the  following  generations;  victorious 
mendacity  blighting  souls  which  the  banished  integrity 
had  led  forward  in  severe  fidelity. 

They  will  never  be  charmed:  I  do  not  dream  it.  No! 
Yet  is  it  not  our  hope  that  others,  inclined  to  similar  drift, 


254  REAL  CAUSES 

may  bethink  themselves  in  time?    Yea,  be  saved  from  all 
inclination  to  drift,  and  never  put  in  such  jeopardy. 

Ill  Carlyle 

If  any  complain  that  the  War  is  going  out  of  sight  in  the 
latter  part  of  this  book,  my  answer  is:  Not  out  of  sight. 
But,  if  your  study  of  its  Real  Causes  be  faithful,  the  War 
itself  must  more  or  less  recede  into  the  distance,  perhaps 
even  assume  the  character  of  a  mere  Episode  in  world- 
drama.  On  the  other  hand,  in  so  far  as  the  war  is  really 
found  to  be  a  crisis  in  world-drama,  the  thing  fought  for 
verily  of  vital  interest  to  mankind,  it  must  rise  in  impor- 
tance. If  it  be  a  pitting  of  Government  by  such  men  as 
can  gain  the  Mob's  vote,  gone  into  league  with  those  who 
sway  by  the  Jesuit's  subtlety,  against  Government  by  men 
of  a  human  Volition,  determined  to  take  on  this  earth  the 
rank  due  to  the  Intelligent  and  perform  the  duties  of  these 
in  stern  fact,  alone  truly  merciful,  then  it  is  indeed  a  Great 
Struggle,  and  one  for  the  gods  to  watch,  for  men  to  do  or 
die  in.  Yet  more  so,  if  it  be  a  pitting  of  Mendacity  with  its 
Mock-Kings  and  Make-Believe  Religions  against  Veracity 
with  its  Real  Kings  and  Faith  in  All  that  is  True,  naught 
that  is  false.  But,  indeed,  it  can  hardly  be  the  one  without 
being  the  other.  If  it  be  a  pitting  of  Mendacious  Democ- 
racy against  Brutality  and  Ambition's  Lusts,  there  is 
nothing  Great  in  it,  howsoever  many  thousands  die ;  and  I, 
for  my  part,  would  never  wittingly  have  wasted  time  in 
speaking  of  it,  nor  cared  which  way  the  victory  went. 

In  all  that  matter,  Carlyle  long  ago  spoke  to  you  far 
better  than  I  can;  and,  had  you  heeded  his  words,  this 
War  could  never  have  been.  But,  in  this  little  section 
headed  with  his  name,  I  propose  to  refer  only  to  two  points : 
Namely :  1st.  How  you  are  not  now  living  and  fighting  in 


REAL  CAUSES  255 

Ignorance  of  the  truth,  but  in  Defiance  of  it.  2nd.  The 
significance  of  the  fact  that  so  much  of  Carlyle's  life  was 
devoted  to  the  portrayal  of  German  Men  and  German  His- 
tory. 

1st.  Not  in  Ignorance,  either  Nation  or  Cabinet,  or,  if  so, 
then  wilfully.  This  was  no  unknown  writer,  but  one  whose 
name  is  familiar  to  all  the  Teutonic  Races,  at  least ;  whereof 
the  British  is  one,  though  there  have  been  some  among 
them  who  have  claimed  descent  from  the  'Aboriginal  Sav- 
age ' *  more  glorious.  Perhaps  might  now  wish,  on  example 
of  the  Slav,  to  change  their  cities'  names,  own  him  for 
parent  stock?  Carlyle  was  unchallengably  the  wisest  and 
noblest  of  all  recent  Britons,  and  one  of  the  Inspired  Sages 
whose  words  live  through  all  time.  Yet,  by  the  Nation  and 
the  Cabinet,  those  words  have  just  been  uneasily  shuffled 
past;  dumbly  known  unanswerable,  the  safe  course  is,  keep 
on  and  hope  they'll  be,  if  not  absolutely  forgotten,  at  least 
never  acted  on.  Several  Members  of  that  Ministry  are  di- 
rectly aware  of  him, — and  of  the  shuffle,  national  and  par- 
ticular. He  is  the  One  whom  they  know  does  stand,  unre- 
movable as  Teneriffe,  in  irreconcilable  contradiction  to  the 
Unanimities  they  worship ;  before  whose  revelation  of  man- 
hood's  majesty  all  the  gods  of  their  idolatry  are  visibly 
dirt, — even  when  moulded  by  the  most  consummate  artists 
and  so  polished  that  the  flies  do  not  stick  to  them.  Marry, 
he  has  all  the  other  inspired  with  him;  from  Adam  down, 
every  one.  But  then  they  all  lived  before  our  new  apoca- 
lypse, so  can  be  plausibly  pretended  no  disbelievers  in  it. 
"Whilst  he — ;  what  he  thought  of  it  is  too  indisputably  left 
on  record.  He  is  thus  the  Sole  Opposer  of  their  Supersti- 
tion whom  they  cannot  pass  over  in  contempt  or  explain 
away.    Accordingly,  they  have  simply  to  let  him  stand,  no 

1  Smel fungus'  description  of  the  Celt. 


256  REAL  CAUSES 

other  shift,  and  trust  in  providence  no  harm  may  come  to 
them  from  so  unwelcome  a  Presence  not  to  be  got  rid  of. 
And  yet  it  is  precisely  from  him  that  they  have  mostly 
drawn  whatever  is  true  in  their  own  inspiration.  Uncon- 
sciously, who  can  say  how  much?  Consciously,  just  so 
much  as  they  could  contrive  to  combine  with  the  popular 
delusions  they  dare  not  and  would  not  abandon,  queasily 
aware  how  uncombinable  it  was.  Wherein  is  the  misery 
and  the  sin;  that,  with  the  living  truth  before  them,  they 
strove  either  to  give  it  the  go-by  altogether,  or  to  strike  a 
profitable  bargain  with  it.  Through  Carlyle  men  like  Lloyd 
George  and  Churchill  might  have  found  what  their  souls 
needed  to  make  them  in  all  points  Men.  They  had  the 
Capacity;  and,  had  they  had  the  Courage  and  Fidelity 
likewise  necessary,  they  had  come  out  fully  Equipt,  clear 
in  heroic  insight,  nobly  resolved,  and  clothed  in  a  grace  had 
silently  taught  the  due  of  man  to  man.  None  of  the  good 
things  they  have  spent  their  lives  to  further,  but  they  had 
then  known  the  good  of  twice  as  well,,  and  not  been  lacking 
in  knowledge  of  those  far  weightier  matters  of  the  law 
without  which  all  these  are  as  naught.  It  is  miserable! 
thrice  miserable !  From  the  depth  of  my  heart,  I  say  to 
you:  You  do  not  know  Carlyle.  By  your  own  and  others' 
sins,  his  face  has  remained  hidden  from  you.  You  have 
misread  him,  written  word  and  life's  deed.  Else  had  your 
souls  owned  him.  Yourselves,  each  true  victor  in  private, 
been  fit  to  lead  Domestic  Campaign  of  another  aim ;  wherein 
the  appointing  of  one  just  man  a  Judge  on  circuit  had 
shown  itself  to  you  more  than  the  carrying  of  a  whole  train 
load  of  Bills  Labour  Problem  not  a  thing  to  be  left  till 
to-morrow,  but  entered  upon  instantly  with  the  sternest  call 
on  all  the  intelligence  and  manhood  at  your  command. 
Britons  able  to  front  Principalities  and  Powers,  a  world 
in  arms  if  need  be,  instead  of  huddling  up  with  Slav  and 


REAL  CAUSES  257 

Celt  in   dread   of  one   Lonesome   Teuton   stalking   large 
through  the  vacant  chambers  of  a  timid  imagination. 

But,  alas,  if  the  Ignorance  do,  in  a  sense  remain,  it  is  no 
longer  innocent.  It  is  by  sin  that  it  remains.  By  whose 
sin,  there  is  no  reckoning;  yet  certainly  by  sin.  And  the 
wages  of  sin  are  always  paid.  If  the  living  truth  had  not 
been  before  these  men,  there  for  them  to  read  if  they  would, 
their  guiltiness  had  not  been  near  as  great,  and  neither  had 
they  run  near  as  far  in  guilt:  they  owed  part  of  that  bad 
speed  to  antagonism,  to  a  Defiance  of  the  truth,  nor  was 
even  a  conscious  Defiance  entirely  absent.  To  shuffle  past, 
to  persist  in  an  impious  delusion,  after  the  truth  of  the 
matter  has  been  declared,  itself  is  an  acting  in  defiance  of 
that  truth  even  though  there  be  at  first  no  ill-will  toward 
the  declarer  to  the  truth.  I  should  have  said  'after  a  while,' 
for  all  we  know  there  was  plenty  of  both  '  at  first ' ;  and  the 
shuffling  tack  not  resorted  to  till  the  unremovability  had 
become  indisputable.  But  the  enmity,  if  it  ever  really  went 
out,  was  always  certain  to  come  in  again;  and  in  a  worse 
form  than  before.  I  said  'Despite — perhaps  to  spite' !  Such 
is  the  fact.  In  the  whole  of  the  men,  in  or  out  of  Parlia- 
ment, in  the  general  soul  of  the  British  who  are  not  mere 
self-seekers,  but  who  would  in  some  sort  live  by  faith,  there 
is  a  more  or  less  distinct  consciousness  that,  unless  they 
can  get  round  Carlyle,  they  must  come  to  grief.  In  the 
silence,  they  have  flattered  themselves  they  had  done  it,  or 
were  accomplishing  it;  whilst,  in  fact,  only  proceeding  in 
the  greater  confidence,  in  that  completely  vain  endeavour. 
Their  aim  has  been  and  is  to  conclude  that  he  in  the  main 
was  wrong,  whatever  items  be  accepted,  themselves  in  the 
right;  the  Faith  he  shattered  still  sound,  invincible  (though 
Churchill  had  trepidations)  for  further  conquest,  man- 
kind 's  sacred  light  and  guidance.  For  that  he  lived  in,  they 
have  no  eye;  yet  are  rootedly  opposed  to  it.    At  this  mo- 


258  REAL  CAUSES 

ment,  could  they  but,  by  hugeness  of  Combination,  weight 
of  gun  and  tonnage  of  ship,  prove  that  that  man  lied,  then, 
think  they,  they  were  whole  founded  as  the  rock,  Dread- 
noughts superlative,  without  one  foe  left  on  the  globe. 
Yet  I  would  warn  the  Gentlemen  that,  though  many  a 
Banquo  may  be  blood-boltered  there  is  ever  some  Fleance 
'scapes :  No  true  victory  to  be  come  by  in  that  manner  of 
warfare. 

It  is  this  change  from  Ignorance  of  the  true  to  Defiance 
of  it,  to  determined  hostility  to  it,  which  chiefly  character- 
ises present  day  Democracy.  It  has  been  long  brooding, 
but  Britain's  atrocious  onslaught  on  Germany,  sequent 
upon  long  course  of  policy  leading  up  to  that  onslaught, 
is  the  first  great  public  outbreak  of  it.  In  other  forms, 
which  of  us  is  there  has  not  met  it  sufficiently,  seen  it  daily 
in  every  quarter?  Democracy,  born  of  Revolt,  did  for  a 
time  rebel  against  what  it  was  very  needful  to  rebel  against. 
But  it  is  not  now  rebelling  against  any  earthly  power.  It 
has  set  up  its  own  gods,  and  endeavours  to  enforce  the 
worship  of  them;  excommunicates  who  will  not  bow  the 
knee  to  them,  hates  none  so  much  as  the  true  worshipper 
who  will  not,  and  bands  itself  with  any  to  cut  down  him. 

2nd.  It  was  merely  in  that  search  after  Saint's  wells, 
which  in  some  epochs,  is  so  forced  upon  a  man,  that  Carlyle 
first  went  to  Germany, — not  in  the  body — and,  finding 
such  his  fortune,  something  more  than  a  wet  rope  with 
cobwebs  sticking  to  it,  began  to  linger,  to  sojourn,  and  to 
draw  up  the  buckets,  wherefrom  he  drank  Waters  of  Life. 
For  the  words  of  THE  GERMAN  came  upon  him  with  the 
force  of  Revelation ;  and  it  was  through  the  aid  of  Goethe 
that  the  Open  Secret  first  became  Open  to  Carlyle  also. — 
To  Churchill  &  Co.  it  remains  shut,  with  the  Devil's  Head 
flaming  on  the  door.    And  the  Americans,  I  understand,  not 


REAL  CAUSES  259 

finding  that  adornment  sufficient,  have,  since  'Piracy'  be- 
gan, painted  up  the  Skull  and  Cross  Bones  underneath. 
Cheered  by  which  phenomenon  again,  Churchill  &  Co.  are 
doubly  resolved  to  keep  the  door  shut,  starve  the  Devil 
within.  Possibly  they  may  manage  it.  But  the  door  I 
began  with  is  described  as  having  '  no  locks  or  latches  to  be 
lifted.'  Pity  Churchill  &  Co.  could  never  find  their  way 
through  so  easy  a  wicket :  which  had  so  saved  them  and  us 
all  this  tremendous  to-do.  It  has,  indeed,  invisible  guards, 
and,  if  easy  of  passage,  is  not  of  discovery;  the  Flaming 
Head  and  Gruesome  Sign  themselves  great  obstacles, — 
especially  the  painting  of  them. — And  it  was  not  Goethe 
only  whom  Carlyle  found,  found  mildly  regnant  and  rever- 
ently loved,  in  Germany.  He  knew  Goethe  'Alone  in  his 
generation ',  as  the  like  of  him  have  ever  been.  The  world 
has  never  seen  two  such  suns  in  simultaneous  meridian: 
very  rarely  has  the  rising,  as  was  there  the  case,  been  so  far 
up  as  to  be  able  to  exchange  mutually  recognising  saluta- 
tion with  the  setting;  more  commonly  several  generations 
intervene,  sometimes  whole  ages.  No :  he  found  many  other 
men  whose  workings  were  part  of  the  Eternal  Concord, 
strikingly  in  contrast  with  the  jar  found  elsewhere.  In  some 
few,  a  deep  true  perception  of  Man's  Whereabouts  in  the 
Time  flood,  and  a  general  trend  toward  a  victorious  solution 
of  the  sphinx  enigmas,  which  made  him  hope  the  world 
would  soon  *  grow  green  and  young  again. '  Later,  he  knew 
it  would  not  be  soon ;  and  did  himself  put  in  the  grandest  of 
all  the  contributions  toward  solution.  The  commencement 
of  that  Contribution  was  his  deliberate  endeavour  to  make 
those  Germans  known  to  his  own  countrymen,  even  as  they 
had  become  known  to  himself ;  and  the  last  great  item  in  it 
was  his  History  of  Prussia:  his  Spirit,  brooding  in  the 
deeps,  produced  that  for  the  crown  of  his  life's  toil.  It 
is  very  certain  these  things  were  done  through  a  divine 


260  EEAL  CAUSES 

leading  on,  sprang  out  of  the  Great  Unconscious,  were 
done  in  obedience  to  the  Unfathomable  Premonitions  as  well 
as  the  Intelligent  Perceptions,  and  I  think  it  is  a  fact  of 
much  Significance  that  he  was  led  to  do  them. 

In  which,  as  I  think,  there  are  the  two  things.  That  he 
consciously  chose  these  tasks  as  what  his  soul  told  him 
needed  to  be  done :  That  the  Power,  which  shapes  our  ends, 
rough-hew  them  how  we  may,  shaped  his  so.  The  more 
so,  that  to  him,  as  a  Briton,  those  writings  on  German 
matters  were  rather  out  of  his  course  than  in  it.  It  was  the 
Bible  of  English  History  which  Carlyle  wanted,  and  he 
grumbled  always  to  his  German  friends,  'What  had  I  to  do 
with  your  Friedrich?'  Yet  the  ever  ruling  Providence 
insisted,  It  is  of  him  you  must  write.  Merciful  God! — to 
liken  little  things  to  great,  and  if  I  be  suffered  the  inter- 
ruption,— what  remotest  thought  had  I  seven  months  ago 
that  I  should  ever  write  a  word  for  German  versus  Briton  ? 
What  an  utter  recoil  to  overcome  before  I  could  make  a 
beginning,  and  for  some  time  after  it  was  made!  But  it 
had  to  be  done;  should  the  leaves  be  used  in  a  jakes,  or 
left  to  moulder  unnoticed.  Carlyle 's  conscious  purposes 
were  of  very  wide  range,  the  deepest  ken.  As  records  of 
the  Past  and  then  Present,  his  writings  on  Germany  and 
Germans  were  alone  priceless;  full  all  of  the  ever-living 
wisdom.  He  had  many  thoughts  of  Germany  in  the  Future 
also,  which  he  did  not  utter,  which  only  a  seeming  chance 
word  here  and  there  gives  any  hint  of.  But  all  deed  done 
by  a  man,  in  a  really  high  intelligence  of  what  he  is  doing 
and  why,  is  likewise  done  in  a  simultaneous  consciousness 
he  neither  knows  what  he  is  doing  nor  why.  Was  it  just 
to  leave  an  indestructible  record,  before  her  overthrow,  of 
what  Germany  had  been  and  was  to  his  day  ?  Whereby,  it 
may  be  added,  every  earnest  thinker  of  the  days  to  come 
would  be  perfectly  certain  to  doubt  the  overthrowers'  ac- 


REAL  CAUSES  261 

counts  of  their  triumph,  be  led  to  search  the  facts,  and — 
Leave  his  record  of  the  Blot  of  Infamy  from  which  the 
Briton  never  recovered;  'bondman  with  and  to  his  allies, 
confessed  no  more  a  self-sufficient,  and  with  soul  bound 
in  sin,'  went  down,  as  the  perpetrators  of  such  deeds  have 
ever  done?  Is  it  a  prophecy  of  what  Germany  is  yet  to 
be  in  the  Future ;  a  record  of  sterling  foundation,  and  tes- 
timony to  new  inspiration  well  competent  to  build  much 
more  thereon ;  a  thing  done  as  in  obedience  to  divine  man- 
date that  men  might  know  in  which  Land  and  Race  it  is 
that  the  spirit  which  can  go  forth  conquering  and  to  con- 
quer is  now  most  present?  I  confess  I  have  always  leant 
to  this  latter;  and  hoped  against  hope,  that  the  Briton 
would  meet  Brother,  not  turn  to  foe.  Of  his  clapping 
up  a  league  with  All  and  Sundry,  and  wantonly  attacking, 
Proud  Leader  of  a  Pack,  I  never  dreamt  till  he  did  it. 

Prophecy  of  Germany  in  the  Future  ?  That  was  a  thing 
dark  to  Carlyle,  as  to  us.  He  saw  in  her  grounds  for 
hope  and  for  fear,  as  is  always  the  case.  During  one  of  his 
last  visits,  in  the  body,  he  met  examples  of  '  Four  Hundred 
Quack-power,  Portentous  to  behold ! '  Ere  long  he  saw  her 
united  beyond  hope;  victor  over  vain  insolent  neighbour; 
and  Protagonist  in  world-drama.  How  far  he  foresaw  that 
the  Bad  Neighbour  would  try  her  accursed  machinations 
again,  with  all  the  world  to  back  her  and  Britain  leading, 
I  do  not  know.  Maybe,  that,  perceiving  well  what  course 
those  two  nations  (France  and  Britain)  were  pursuing,  he 
did  deem  some  such  thing  probable.  If  so,  could  only  have 
hoped  for  Germany  that  her  strength  might  not  be  wanting 
to  her,  nor  her  wisdom  be  far  from  her,  in  the  day  of  her 
trial.  I  said,  in  Proem,  that  it  was  not  for  us  to  say 
what  Carlyle  would  have  thought  of  to-day's  events;  but 
of  this  we  need  have  no  shadow  of  a  doubt :  That  he  would 
have  utterly  condemned  the  conduct  of  Britain  and  her 


262  REAL  CAUSES 

Allies.  The  British,  Nation  and  Cabinet,  are  there,  at 
least,  acting  in  a  very  express  and  conscious  Defiance  of 
him  and  the  facts  he  left  clear  and  certain.  But  beyond 
all  surmises  of  machinations,  Combinations  for  or  against 
were  the  deeper  prophecy,  the  intuition  granted  only  to 
the  pure  and  just,  that  in  Germany,  if  she  kept  true  to 
herself,  was  the  Promise  of  Man.  For  the  //,  it  remains 
while  man  is  mortal.  Neither  was  it  Carlyle  who  ever 
thought  that  One,  however  just,  must  always  prove  earthly 
mightier  than  all  opposites:  The  answer  to  that  is,  as 
every  Christian  should  know,  You  may  destroy  him,  yet 
he  conquers. 


m 

MENDACITY  VERSUS  VERACITY 

In  its  Preliminary,  I  fore-explained  the  course  of  this 
Chapter  thus: 

'Opposition  to  Germany,  innate  in  the  British,  the  Real 
'Cause  of  their  going  to  war  with  that  nation:  Which  we 
'may  divide  into  three:  British  Jealousy  of  Germany's 
'increasing  power:  Trial  of  Strength  No.  1.  British  con- 
stitutional abhorrence  of  all  actual  Sovereignty,  existent 
'in  Germany  alone  of  nations:  Democracy  versus  Autocracy 
'No.  2.  British  saturation  with  Make-believe,  faith  only  in 
'Transparent  Humbug,  fearing  and  detesting  an  unequiv- 
'  ocal  Manhood  that  does  not  believe  truth  dangerous,  dares 
'by  what  it  knows:  Which  Manhood,  if  not  found  in 
'Germany,  where  found?  Mendacity  versus  Veracity  No. 
l3.' 

And  also  wrote:  'Witness  Entente,  witness  Royal  Will, 
'per  order,  witness  that  black  pool  of  horrors,  THEIR 


REAL  CAUSES  263 

'RELIGION.'  Yes,  it  is  there  you  approach  nighest  to 
origin.  Poor  Grey  may  have  been  a  bit  of  a  sluice,  Asquith 
and  Co.  put  vigorous  hand  to  the  levers,  but  this  is  the 
flood  of  Hell-waters  itself,  the  great  lake  and  bottomless 
from  which  the  rivers  of  vicious  contention,  the  sordid 
delusions,  deeds  vain  and  impious,  flow.  The  Mock  Kings 
and  subtle  Ententes  are  mere  practices  of  the  Rotten 
Within. 

I  have  elsewhere  written  of  this,  as  I  cannot  here :  made 
such  Confession  of  Faith  as  able.  And,  if  you  care  to 
know  aught  of  that,  must  refer  you  thereto.  Confession 
of  Faith  is  sometimes  right,  most  needful ;  but,  once  made, 
it  is  another  sort  of  Confession  that  is  wanted,  namely  deed 
in  it,  and  no  more  talk  of  it.  Emerson  much  mistook  in 
supposing  it  desirable  to  do  nothing  save  continually 
reword  it.  God  is  great,  my  dear  Waldo, — Let  us,  whether 
highest  Seraph  of  the  Morn,  or  doomed  dog  in  unwholesome 
pits,  accept  that  fact;  and  discuss  it  no  further.  Vain 
forever  is  the  attempt  to  announce  Nature's  Apocalypse. 
Thus  is  the  reader  warned  that  if  he  do  have  curiosity 
enough  to  search  out  my  Confession,  he  will  not  find  it 
a  revelation  from  Patmos;  nor  any  sort  of  catechetical 
answer  to  What  am  I  to  believe?  supplied  to  him.  I  have 
there  said:  'Man  in  Society  springs  out  of  Man  in  the 
Universe  and  repeats  him  in  every  lineament.'  As  your 
soul  is  toward  God,  so  will  your  conduct  to  your  fellow 
men  be.  Which,  you  see,  is  no  very  novel  conclusion.  At 
the  same  time,  till  Faith  be  got,  I  fully  admit,  it  is  the 
one  thing  needful — To  insist  on?  Perhaps;  only  How? 
There  will  never  more  be  a  Credo,  and  subscription  to 
article  is  a  thing  of  the  Past.  Carlyle  made  his  express 
Confession  in  his  Sartor;  and  believed  for  long,  if  not 
exactly  that  'all  men  had  understood  it,'  which  he  well 
knew  they  had  not,  yet  'at  least  that  they  had,'  in  a 


264  REAL  CAUSES 

sense,  'understood  it  in  him.'  But  no  Spiritual  Optics 
could  have  revealed  it  to  eyes  which  would  not  see  it 
without,  nor  a  tithe  as  well  helped  those  with  eyes  to  see 
it  to  greater  clearness  as  his  after  deeds  in  it,  sans  further 
exposition  of  the  Highest  which  cannot  be  uttered  in 
words.  Those  who  would  not  leave  their  Jewish  Old 
Clothes  with  Teufelsdrochk  in  Monmouth  Street  would 
not  have  disrobed  had  the  Au  revoir  of  Latter  Day x 
Pamphlets  not  remained  final  word. 

The  Religion,  the  professed  and  indeed  the  actual  Reli- 
gion of  the  present  day  British,  who  can  describe  it?  A 
century  ago  the  general  honest  trend  was  toward  an  oven 
and  declared  Atheism,  with,  of  course,  ditto  Anarchy  in 
civil  polity.  Carlyle  taught  a  different.  But  the  British 
neither  came  through  with  him,  nor  have  proceeded  in  the 
honest  trend.  In  their  terrene  obliviousness  to  things  celes- 
tial, they  have  arrived  at  such  a  professed  Religious  Faith 
as  quite  beggars  description.  We  have  just  been  studying 
their  Mock-King  procedures;  but  nothing  they  do  there 
equals  in  sorriness  and  '  blasphemous  mendacity '  the  solemn 
farce  they  play  in  and  with  their  Churches:  What  they 
do  there  is  only  the  more  or  less  mcomplete  realisation  of 
the  Unholy  Idea  their  souls  live  in  bondage  to.  One  can- 
not call  it  a  compound,  this  Religious  Faith  of  theirs; 
time  was  when  it  was  called  'an  Amalgam  of  "Christian 
verities"  and  modern  critical  philosophies,  which  was  and 
could  be  nothing  else  than  a  poisonous  insincerity ' 2 ;  it  is 
a  Collection  of  known  Incompatibilities  set  up  alongside 
each  other,  to  be  simultaneously  believed  in,  in  a  common 
consent  not  to  quarrel  about  them;  remains  a  poisonous 

*' Latter  Days,'  'Penultimate  Ages;  the  days  before  the  last.' 
What  a  meaning  in  these  words  to  the  earnest  Briton  who  looks  on  the 
Britain  of  to-day! 

2  Froude. 


REAL  CAUSES  265 

insincerity,  perhaps  surpassing  the  Jesuit's  in  damnability. 
If  you  were  to  ask  me  to  point  out  a  Briton  who,  like 
Kaiser  Wilhelm,  felt  the  need  of  firm  ground  to  stand  on, 
I  might  be  at  a  loss;  but  I  could  name  many  who  busy 
themselves  in  endeavours  to  mould  the  unshapeable  muck 
into  some  sort  of  Presentability,  such  as  the  Decency  Prin- 
ciple demands  for  Soul's  Apex  as  well  as  Constitution's. 
Presentability  is,  in  truth,  here,  as  in  that  White  Paper 
'Case'  and  elsewhere,  about  all  they  seem  to  feel  the  least 
need  of;  and  their  Services,  etc.,  are  normally,  quite  se- 
renely decorous.  In  which  view  too,  the  elite  do  not  regard 
those  attempts  at  new  moulding  with  favour:  Be  but 
perfect  enough  in  your  deportment  while  aworshipping  and 
the  beauty  of  the  god  shall  so  shine  through  you  that  none 
dare  question  his  divinity.  The  god  of  one  ancient  nation 
is  described  as  resembling  three  whale-cubs  combining  by 
boiling,  set  up,  whether  on  its  head  or  its  tail  difficult  to 
determine,  as  the  Supreme  of  this  Universe  for  the  time 
being.  Similarly,  the  modern  British  have  a  pleased  per- 
suasion that,  by  much  boiling  and  kneading,  a  combination 
has  somehow  or  other  been  effected  aloft;  does  now  look 
down  with  blessing  from  its  father-throne  on  the  earthly 
one  they  have  made  in  its  image.  And,  if  you  assert  the 
achievement  of  Compound  in  this  sense,  I  in  no  wise  deny 
it ;  but  if  you  ask  me  to  accept  it  for  a  Living  Unity — ! 

Religion  an  incoherent  jumble  of  incredibilities  persist- 
ently accredited  can  never  be  anything  except  a  fountain 
of  death.  Look  at  any  of  those  Cabinet  Ministers,  for 
instance,  individually;  it  was  in  their  passive  acceptance, 
instead  of  active  rejection,  of  that  unspeakable  mess,  they, 
like  the  rest  of  us,  were  fed  with  by  way  of  soul's  light, 
that  their  perversion  began.  Without  that  original  breed- 
ing in  falsehood,  begun  at  the  mother's  knee,  when  they 
were  still  pliable  saplings,  they  had  never  as  Men  taken 


266  REAL  CAUSES 

up  with  Vox  populi,  so  plainly  as  much  Vox  Dei  as  they 
ever  heard  from  a  Minister  of  Religion.  Can  you,  can  you, 
my  most  earnest  of  readers,  can  you  in  your  soul  and  con- 
science now,  blame  them  for  finding  the  Stump-Orator  as 
excellently  discoursing  a  mouth-piece  as  he  in  the  Pulpit? 
The  one  led  them  to  the  other;  and,  as  they  outgrew  the 
effeminacies  of  the  Nursery,  they  were  promoted  to  the 
more  masculine  exercises  of  the  Forum.  The  pulpit,  how- 
ever, still  retained  an  uncertain  claim  to  ascendancy,  and, 
in  any  case,  hardy  pupils  shot  up  into  spheres  which  more 
tax  stamina,  would  not  be  haughty  contemptuous  of  early 
pedagogues,  gratefully  paid  tribute.  Lloyd  George  has 
frequently  done  more,  exhorted  these  humble  helps  to  do 
their  duty :  Great  furtherers  you,  of  our  high  schemes  for 
mankind 's  progress ;  an  you  will  but  do  your  holy  mission 
rightly,  there 's  none  on  whom  we  set  a  higher  value.  Burly 
Churchill  I  do  not,  at  the  moment,  recollect  addressing 
surplice — Lloyd  George  found  most  favour  with  the  cas- 
sock, but  that  is  nothing  to  the  point — ;  just  performed 
the  kow-tows  when  necessary  and  with  the  proper  subdue 
of  nonchalance.  Would  hardly  find  a  Dreadnought  there, 
I  think,  should  he  search  never  so  devoutly ;  might  a  Brow 
of  Brass  that  would  pass  for  such  with  him,  though  even 
this  is  extremely  rare  now-a-days,  a  mighty  tame  race, 
no  gelding  better  schooled  in  the  mincing  paces  befitting 
station.  There  are  some  among  the  surplice  squadrons  who 
can  capriole  very  prettily,  and  of  the  dog  distract  we  need 
not  speak ;  some  who  wear  the  cassock  have  so  approximated 
to  the  once  noisier  brother  of  the  forum  that  nothing  save 
the  uniform  or  plain  civilian  dress  denotes  which  beats 
the  drum;  but  still  it  is,  in  the  main,  just  as  befits  various 
station.  Mr  Asquith,  of  course,  smoothly  pays  what 
honour  custom  prescribes,  and  from  his  soul.  Never  a 
Mock  King  lacked  Holy  Churchmen  for  his  saintly  props; 


REAL  CAUSES  267 

neither  have  Premier  and  Primate  any  quarrel,  or  none 
in  public  unbecoming.  Indecent  Exposure  is  the  rarest 
of  misdemeanours,  not  to  say  cardinal  sins,  in  British  Sup- 
porters of  the  Church  and  Throne.  One  half  may  cry 
Vox  Dei,  the  other  Vox  Populi;  but,  these  cries  being 
known  synonymous,  there  is  no  cause  for  serious  discrep- 
ance. Only  those  earthly  frictions  natural  where  the  party 
which  gets  its  inspiration  at  second  hand  claims  prece- 
dence; the  directly  inspired  fashed  with  waitings  for  the 
other  to  translate  their  oracles,  delivered  now  in  the  vulgar 
tongue,  into  that  sacred  dubious  which  gives  them  double 
force.  But  indeed  they  are  learning  to  do  this  for  them- 
selves now :  No  Synod  of  Bishops  could  have  brought  out  a 
'  Case '  more  sacred  dubious  than  their  White  Paper  one. 

For  this  accursed  primary  falsehood,  adherence  to  a 
Lying  Religion,  vitiates  a  man's  whole  being,  turns  all  his 
deeds  to  evil.  And  the  hardier  pupils,  who  have  burgeoned 
out  in  rougher  airs  political,  have,  in  a  way,  become  more 
adept  in  the  Church's  black-arts,  than  if  they  had  entered 
her  orders.  They  have  retained  the  soul  of  Cant,  yet 
utter  it  in  a  new  dialect  of  their  own,  not  yet  become 
foisonless  to  masculine  vigour;  and  Faculty  quickened  the 
Rotheap's  moulder  into  crime.  This  last  was  inevitable, 
if  Faculty  did  re-appear  there,  as  one  little  expected  it  to 
do.  The  source  of  the  sin  of  that  Liberal  Ministry  lies  in 
the  fact  that  they  were  never  individually,  man  by  man, 
bred  up  in  a  heavenly  Faith,  nor  ever  cleared  to  such  by 
own  strength.  To  none  among  them  has  the  eternal  sal- 
vation or  damnation  of  man's  soul  become  the  Great  Fact 
of  human  existence ;  they  have  never  aspired  to  the  infinite ; 
no  ideal  of  heroic  manhood  has  ever  glowed  before  them; 
and  of  them  again  it  must  be  said,  What  they  have  is  but 
inherited.  They  are  merely  Remnants  of  the  Past,  in 
that  sense;  and,  cast  wholly  in  the  Fashion  of  the  Hour, 


268  REAL  CAUSES 

have  of  the  vital  faith,  could  lead  themselves  or  us  through 
life's  perplexities  in  true  honour,  nothing.  All  zeal  for 
mobs'  gospel,  hustings  morality  in  home  campaigns,  specific 
enmity  and  jealous-fearful  plottings  in  foreign  policy, 
are  but  corollaries.  God  is  great,  and  these  are  not  of  the 
School  of  the  Prophets. 

If  the  British  have  misread  Carlyle  in  matter  political, 
it  is  because  they  first  misread  him  in  matter  religious, 
and  have  continued  to  do  so.  It  is  strange  what  a  blindness 
afflicts  them.  'I  thought  all  understood  this,  or  at  least 
understood  it  in  me.'1  Who  would  not  have  done  so? 
It  was  clearly  enough  declared  for  ear  that  would  hear 
But  none  did.  Not  Emerson ;  much  less  Ruskin ;  Froude, 
yes,  at  his  best,  but  with  such  a  fitfulness,  wavering  and 
weakness.  And  the  failures  of  these  gave  sanction  to  baser 
conceptions ;  left  them  undenied,  partly  endorsed,  free  to 
grow.  What  ridiculous  and  sordid  conclusion  has  thus 
become  current !  He,  who  had  as  clear,  whole-founded  and 
ethereal  a  faith  as  ever  man  had  before  he  addressed  his 
fellows  at  all,  is  supposed  to  have  lacked  this;  to  have 
been — I  know  not  what.  Those  secondaries  with  their  fol- 
lowings  would  have  'explained  his  errors,'  thanked  God 
He  ha j  given  wisdom  to  babes  while  He  left  the  Mighty 
unprovided,  etc.,  etc. ;  and  propounded  their  restricted 
pure,  their  feeble  no  and  half-solutions,  their  continued 
endless  peddling  makeshift  nonsenses,  in  lieu  of  that  Rev- 
elation for  Man  long  before  them,  Unseen,  unseeable  by 
them,  and  growing  ever  more  so ;  he  silent,  diligent  in 
works,  before  such  inevitable  sequel  to  early  pass  over 
unkenned. 

Mendacity.  We  do  use  this  word  in  its  proper  dictionary 
meaning;  but,  through  the  constant  use  of  it  by  Carlyle 

1  Carlyle  in  letter  to  Emerson. 


REAL  CAUSES  269 

in  describing  posf-Jesuit  phenomena,  it  has  come  for  us 
to  have  an  intensity  of  meaning  which,  without  contradict- 
ing the  dictionary  one,  has  so  carried  that  to  the  full  limit 
of  its  force,  that  we  have  become  shy  of  using  the  word 
to  describe  anything  less  horrible.  We  see  the  thing,  and 
Mendacity  has  chanced  to  become  the  name  for  it,  the  only 
word  which  satisfies.  Carlyle  said  of  the  black-militia  of 
Unsaint  Ignatius:  'They  have  given  a  new  substantive  to 
modern  languages.  The  word  "Jesuitism"  now,  in  all 
countries  expresses  an  idea  for  which  there  was  in  Nature 
no  prototype  before.  Not  till  these  later  centuries  had  the 
human  soul  generated  that  abomination,  or  needed  to  name 
it. '  So  is  it  here ;  an  old  substantive  has  been  used  by  him 
to  designate  a  state  of  soul  unknown  till  after  the  Jesuits 
had  done  their  deadly  execution.  Habit  of  lying,  deceit, 
untruth,  falsehood,  none  of  these  are  of  equal  force ;  Men- 
dacity goes  beyond  them  all.  A  man  may  be  a  rogue,  a  de- 
ceitful knave,  a  lying  bloody-minded  villain,  a  miscreant 
full  of  all  subtilty  and  malignity,  and  yet  one  shrink  from 
branding  him  'mendacious.'  Use  the  word  in  its  full  com- 
pass so,  and  Shakespeare,  for  instance,  gives  no  example  of 
a  mendacious  person.  Not,  among  all  his  characters,  one, 
I  think.  Iago  is  not  thus  mendacious ;  for  when  he  lies  he 
knows  he  lies,  and  he  calls  his  villainy  villainy.  The  near- 
est approach  which  Shakespeare  makes  is  in  the  Catholic 
Prelates  of  Henry  V  and  Richard  III;  but  even  these  only 
faintly  prophesy  of  a  thing  which  has  since  become  like  a 
life  atmosphere,  for  a  while.  A  mendacious  person  is  a 
person  who  lies  in  his  soul,  and  differently  to  his  father 
the  Jesuit,  whose  practice  rather  was  to  lie  to  his;  for  he 
eschews  diabolical  doctrines  and  does  not  believe  in  secrecy, 
that  is,  experiences  no  need  of  it  in  the  common  consent 
necessary  to  his  existence.  He  believes,  and  sure  enough, 
in  the   'salutary  nature   of  falsehoods,   and   the   divine' 


270  REAL  CAUSES 

efficacy  we  must  write,  not  'authority'  as  Carlyle  did  of 
the  Jesuit,  '  of  things  doubtful ' ;  but  the  falsehood  and  the 
doubtfulness  must  be  quite  well  known,  all  the  gods  of  his 
worship,  Transparent  Humbugs,  and  he  is  thus  never 
haunted  with  the  least  dread  of  being  found  out.  If  any 
murmur  Humbug!  rise,  he  answers,  not  quite  in  plain 
English,  Why,  my  dear  sir,  we  all  know  that;  but,  etc. 
Did  you  say  you  had  not  your  proper  share  in  it  ?  If  you 
can  make  that  out,  the  injustice  shall  be  righted  on  the 
earliest  opportunity.  Sorry  that  the  pressure  of  other 
important  business  prevents  me  from  being  able  to  fix  a 
day  for  hearing  of  your  case.  He  is  no  hypocrite,  does  not 
seek  to  disguise  his  doings,  to  hide  his  soul  from  his  fellows, 
or  pass  himself  off  for  what  he  is  not.  He  is  thoroughly 
persuaded  that  he  is — what  men  desire  him  to  be,  un- 
troubled with  a  misgiving  that  Heaven's  King  can  any 
more  exercise  veto  upon  majority  than  the  Vice  Regent 
he  has  so  well  in  hand.  Of  '  the  true,  genuine,  indispensable 
sentiment  of  self- estimation'  you  will  not  find  much  in 
him,  unless  you  add,  'corrupted  into  self-conceit  and  pre- 
sumption,' but  then  such  a  confidence  in  the  power  of  the 
Decency  Principle  to  convert  the  foulest  whore  into  the 
chastest  of  goddesses  as  was  seldom  seen  before.  The  whore 
is  not  required  to  put  away  her  sins,  only  to  wear  some 
regulation  gauze  and  learn  decorum. 

A  life  atmosphere,  I  said.  For  the  thing  we  call  Men- 
dacity can  scarcely  be  in  any  unless  in  all  but  all.  It  is 
entirely  devoid  of  self-sufficiency  and  never  took  a  resolu- 
tion to  stop  at  nothing,  though  so  long  as  with  the  drift, 
there  is  nothing  it  will  stop  at.  It  is  a  Spiritual  Plague; 
long  endemic,  which  has  infected  high  blood  as  well  as 
low,  not  a  pravity  peculiar  to  individuals.  And  there  is, 
I  believe,  no  nation  upon  earth  in  which  it  is  so  terribly 
prevalent  as  in  the   British   of  our  time.     I  shall  not 


REAL  CAUSES  271 

attempt  defining  it  further ;  it  is  a  thing  to  be  seen  of  the 
spirit.  Those  Mock-King  procedures,  and  White  Paper 
1  Cases '  are  good  examples  of  its  practice,  but  the  all-damn- 
ing fact  of  the  British  is,  that  they  have  put  their  faith 
in  Mendacity,  become  mendacious  in  their  very  beings. 
So  the  Sultan's  suzerainty  of  Egypt  is  at  an  end!  How 
many  souls  did  it  send  to  perdition  whilst  maintained  by 
them,  not  him,  the  impotent,  with  Khedive  British  approved 
for  incapacity?  "Wherever  you  turn  it  is  the  same.  And 
they  are  so  smooth  and  virtuous  about  it  all,  perform  their 
iniquities  with  such  an  unction,  that  half  the  world  admires 
as  at  some  godhead,  strives  to  copy.  Each  citizen,  with 
too  few  exceptions,  bred  in  Mendacity  from  infancy,  I  do 
not  know  what  Truth  the  British,  as  a  nation,  would  to-day 
unitedly  live  and  die  for;  but  what  a  zeal  they  can  have 
for  an  Evident  Falsehood,  properly  apparelled  and  suit- 
ably presented,  this  hour  witnesses.  Had  the  Falsehood 
not  been  evident,  they  would  have  been  suspicious,  much 
too  worldly-wise  to  stir  at  any  call  of  knight-errantry; 
had  it  not  been  so  arrayed  that  the  first  sight  ravished 
their  fancy,  they  would  never  have  kindled.  But  such  a 
glorious  Transparency  as  Grey  and  Asquith  presented  them 
with  was  wholly  irresistible.  They  cried  at  once,  Out  other 
selves,  our  oracles,  our  prophets!  Now  have  ye,  Teuton. 
For  we  do  both  know  why  and  have  a  Tale  to  tell  must 
gain  us  more  than  absolution. 

Veracity  means  accordance  with  fact,  as  Mendacity  dis- 
cordance. A  veracious  man  is  simply  a  man  who  en- 
deavours to  live  in  truth  as  his  one  salvation ;  who  when  he 
does  unwittingly  depart  from  fact,  makes  all  speed  to  get 
back  into  contact,  so  soon  as  he  discovers  himself  to  be  out ; 
who,  when  he  wittingly  errs,  repents:  in  either  case,  he 
never  loses  instinct  that  in  truth  alone  is  salvation  possible 


272  REAL  CAUSES 

for  him.  Whereas  a  mendacious  man  is  precisely  he  in 
whom  this  instinct  has  become  entirely  obscured :  he  shuns 
contact  with  fact,  as  if  it  would  be  death  to  him,  and  puts 
his  whole  trust  in  a  made-up  righteousness;  under  no  cir- 
cumstances can  he  do  without  a  Buffer  State  between  him- 
self and  Deity.  No  doubt  this  too  is  a  genuine  indestruc- 
tible instinct  for  self-preservation, — considering  who  his 
deity  is.  There  is  war  without  discharge  between  these 
two :  Veracity  has  an  implacable  abhorrence  of  Mendacity ; 
and  Mendacity  a  deadly  enmity  to  and  fearful  dread  of 
Veracity,  which,  also,  almost  always  leads  it  to  provoke 
battle. 

The  British,  as  a  nation,  are  mendacious ;  they  have  long 
lain  asleep  in  the  Devil's  Pickle,  and  have  by  no  means 
yet  got  out.  Are  the  Germans,  as  a  nation,  veracious? 
"Who  could  answer  with  complete  confidence?  One  thing 
is  certain,  that  they  have  not  undergone  a  two  or  three 
centuries  soak,  to  saturation  to  the  marrow.  The  question, 
therefore,  with  them,  is  not  Have  they  got  out,  but  have 
they  kept  out?  And  this  alone  is  an  immense  distinction 
in  their  favour.  Neither  have  we  at  all  forgotten  that  there 
are  many  other  ways  of  sinning  besides  that  unreserved 
relinquishment  of  march  for  soak, — sometimes  succeeded 
by  a  certain  vigour  in  swimming;  nor  that  it  is  with 
Ambition's  lusts,  no  wallow  in  company,  the  British  charge 
the  Germans.  For  the  British  charges,  I  care  nothing; 
and  of  the  other  ways  of  sinning  can  only  say  the  while, 
They  may  be  very  serious,  but  they  are  one  and  all  venial 
in  comparison;  and,  as  the  world  stands  this  day,  there 
is  the  cardinal  whereon  all  minor  do  hinge.  The  German 
may  have  drunk  of  the  damned  brew,  till,  with  all  his  wit, 
he  could  not  tell  whether  the  moon  had  three  horns  or  four ; 
but  this  is  a  long  way  off  permanent  saturation.  We  shall 
never  be  free  from  diseases. 


REAL  CAUSES  273 

'While  man '8  desires  and  aspirations  stir 
'We  cannot  choose  but  err.' 

— Goethe. 

And  the  question  is  of  that  unwearied  aspiration  which 
has  never  said  to  evil,  Thou  art  good,  forever  gives  promise 
of  redemption. 

The  British  were,  and  continue,  very  heedless  of  that 
German  literature  of  the  latter  eighteenth  and  early  nine- 
teenth centuries  which  Carlyle  so  recommended  to  them. 
They  are  ready  now  to  say,  Oh  yes,  that  was  verv  graDd 
indeed ;  but  it  has  all  gone  out,  and  left  no  successor.  To 
which  one  might  reply:  Firstly:  It  has  no  more  gone  out 
than  the  sun  has,  and  you  show  a  sorry  notion  of  its 
quality  in  imagining  that  it  could.  Nor  do  I  merely  mean 
by  this  that  a  true  star  remains  in  the  firmament.  No; 
I  also  mean  that  the  virtue  of  the  men  who  made  that 
literature  remains  in  the  German  nation.  For  they  were 
accepted  of  it,  not  rejected;  and,  accordingly,  the  truth 
they  taught  has  become  the  inalienable  inheritance  of  the 
People  they  addressed.  The  German  may  be  familiar  with 
Goethe  from  his  childhood,  go  to  him  as  to  an  acknowl- 
edged Seer  and  his  nation's  proudest  name,  just  as  cer- 
tainly as  the  Briton  is  seldom  familiar  with  Carlyle  at 
any  age,  reads  him  mostly  as  a  singular  phenomenon, 
much  of  a  Curmudgeon,  and  not  half  so  wise  as  he  might 
have  been  had  he  taken  counsel.  Certainly,  on  the  whole, 
rather  an  entity  to  glory  in ;  '  struck  by  the  lightning, '  * 
and  'for  a  purpose.' 2  Oh,  doubt  it  not;  the  Deity's  ways 
are  inscrutable,  very  praiseworthy,  in  this  instance,  too, 
the  scarred  condition  affording  such  a  wholesome  warning. 
Perhaps  it  was  for  our  sins,  surely  for  his  own;  and,  with 
divine  punishment  visibly  meted,  men  can  have  no  unchar- 

1  Buskin.  '  Cook. 


274  REAL  CAUSES 

itableness  toward  him.  Secondly:  In  regard  to  the  no 
successor  assertion,  one  might  ask  the  British,  Where  is 
your  own  successor  then?  What  man  is  there  among 
you  who  has  a  True  Word  for  his  fellows  at  all,  whose 
voice  rises  in  any  wise  as  one  more  in  the  Eternal  Concord- 
ance? Learned  Professors  and  successful  Journalists, 
these  are  they  whom  you  can  number  by  the  score.  And 
some  Lord  Morley,  by  the  bye,  giving  dinner  in  honour 
of  one  of  the  latter,  recently  knighted,  could  speak  of  their 
demagogue  power,  express  pious  wish  they  would  use  it 
for  Peace.  He  did  not,  of  course,  call  it  demagogue 
power,  and  one  does  not  quite  know  whether  he  looked  to 
the  Concert  for  maintenance  of  peace.  But  we  do  know 
that  he  knew  the  drift  of  things  and  the  share  which 
knight  he  was  dining  had  therein;  that  he  resigned  his 
seat  in  the  Cabinet  when  war  was  declared,  and  that  the 
new-dubbed  knight  was  Sir  E.  T.  Cook.  Perhaps  that 
little  post-prandial  incident,  accidentally  remembered  by 
me  here,  might  better  put  you  on  the  trace  of  Why  Britain 
Is  at  War  than  the  knight's  zealous  propaganda  since. 
Merely  a  straw  floating  on  the  surface  of  the  stream,  I 
know,  yet  indicative  which  way  the  current  was  flowing. 
We  must  leave  that  of  the  successor  a  moment. 

The  German  literature  referred  to  was  contemporaneous 
with  the  French  Revolution  and  Napoleonic  convulsions, 
with  British  hebetude,  hide-bound  formalism  and  Byronic 
protests:  It  is  not  without  an  effort  nowadays  that  you 
can  realise  that  fact.  It  silently  appeared  and  flourished  in 
a  still  strength,  unbenighted  by  the  Effete  Dominions,  un- 
disturbed by  the  Brawling  Uproars  which  shattered  them. 
Seldom,  I  think,  were  there  so  many  genuine  Philosophers 
in  a  nation,  who,  during  a  time  of  world-throe  and  inter- 
national crisis,  possessed  their  souls  in  patience  and  mod- 
estly pursued  their  high  callings  in  peace.    They  under- 


REAL  CAUSES  275 

stood  their  French  and  British  contemporaries,  though 
these  had  not  the  slightest  ken  of  them.  They  were  stable 
in  a  sincere  faith,  lived  in  the  perennial,  and  quietly  ex- 
hibited a  Reverent  Inexpugnability  of  soul,  which  was  their 
own  and  their  nation 's  salvation  in  that  hour,  and  of  bound- 
less promise  for  the  future.  For  these  were  thoroughly 
awake  to  their  Whereabout,  knew  their  own  day,  its  perils 
and  perplexities,  freely  gave  their  lives  toward  the  con- 
quest and  solution  of  these ;  they  foresaw  the  New-birth  of 
all  things  and  in  spirit  lived  in  its  day-spring,  as  well  as 
journeyed  through  that  twelfth  hour  of  the  right  they 
knew  themselves  abroad  in.  Far  ahead  of  the  British  and 
French,  who  went  a-gadding  in  vanity  or  sat  lazily  a-dozing 
in  worse  till  convulsion  struck  them,  these  had  half  gained 
the  inner  victory  before  the  outer  shock  came.  Since  it 
came,  the  delirious  political  faiths  of  those  whom  it  struck 
into  a  confused  earthly  activity,  wherein  the  very  con- 
sciousness of  any  need  of  a  spiritual  has  been  obliterated, 
have  gone  round  the  globe,  and  infected  the  numerical  ma- 
jorities of  all  nations;  but  it  is  an  immense  fact  for  the 
Germans  that  they,  as  a  nation,  had  made  a  commencement 
before  these  delusions  swept  over  mankind,  such  a  com- 
mencement as  cannot  well  have  stopped,  howsoever  tem- 
porarily obscured.  For  those  men  were  not  examples  of 
what  merit  could  still  reside  in  the  Old;  they  were  clear- 
sighted Leaders  in  the  Van. 

The  Reception  which  Goethe  and  Carlyle  respectively 
met  with,  has  always  been  a  thing  of  profound  significance 
to  me.  Goethe  came  and  lived  no  upholder  of  Orthodoxy  in 
any  shape  or  province,  a  most  fearless  speaker  of  the  very 
truth,  severe  and  entire;  his  serene  Beauty  that  which 
only  crowns  a  soul  of  the  deepest  Earnestness,  collectedness 
for  duty  and  most  unshakeable  Fidelity.  Yet  he  reigned, 
through  a  long  life,  the  gratefully  Accepted  of  his  country- 


276  REAL  CAUSES 

men,  who  sought  to  learn  from  him  as  from  one  to  whom  the 
Inspiration  of  the  Highest  had  certainly  given  understand- 
ing. Carlyle,  as  supremely  endowed  with  Wisdom  by  the 
Almighty,  and  of  as  wide  a  compass,  could  not  be  denied 
'intellectual  supremacy'  after  every  effort  had  been  made 
to  deny  it  in  him ;  lived,  through  a  long  life,  the  mark  of 
every  obscene  projectile  and  opprobrious  epithet  which 
could  be  hurled  at  him ;  in  all  deepest  essentials  Rejected  of 
his  countrymen,  who  only  accepted  what  they  could  no 
more  deny  and  found  convenient,  always  under  protest. 
If  you  have  any  understanding  of  eternal  law,  of  vir- 
tuous or  vicious  disposition  in  men,  their  innate  affinities 
with  good,  or  proclivities  to  ill,  you  will  find  the  significance 
of  these  two  Receptions  inexhaustible;  the  determine,  as 
nothing  else  could  do,  what  manner  of  men  the  respective 
countrymen  addressed  were,  whither  they  were  tending, 
Godward  or  Devilward. 

Unless,  indeed,  the  Manner  of  the  Address  itself  go 
deeper  still.  The  British,  I  am  very  well  aware,  make  it 
their  excuse ;  but,  in  fact,  it  is  it  that  damns  them  doubly. 
They  say  (when  it  pleases  them,  for  in  general  they  speak 
of  Goethe,  also,  in  quite  another  key  than  this)  the  German 
Poet's  address  was  sunny  mild,  gentle  and  sweet,  persuas- 
ively recommended  the  True  and  gave  offence  to  nobody's 
susceptibilities ;  Carlyle 's  fiercely  denunciatory,  unwarrant- 
ably severe,  outrageous,  arrogant,  etc.,  etc.  Neither  state- 
ment is  true :  Goethe  was  severe  enough  whenever  he  found 
cause  to  be  so.  And  to  speak  of  Carlyle  as  chiefly  given 
to  blasting  the  false,  instead  of  recommending  the  true  in 
the  widest  and  most  loving  humanity,  is  to  talk  nonsense. 
The  fact  is  that  both  Addresses  were  delivered  in  a  spirit 
of  Equitable  Justice,  and  the  several  Manners  suited  to  the 
Peoples  addressed:  the  sooner  the  British  take  that  fact 
home  to  themselves  the  better  for  them.     No  noble  man 


REAL  CAUSES  277 

ever  chose  Rebuke  as  a  sort  of  dictum  best  becoming  to  his 
mightiness;  and  Carlyle's  nature  was  loving  ethereal  as 
any  poet's,  'easy  to  be  entreated'  as  any  Apostle  could 
require.  The  British  plea  is  very  much  as  if  a  set  of  mis- 
creants should  blame  a  Judge  for  passing  remark  upon 
them  in  tone  and  word  other  than  that  with  which  he 
would  lift  up  his  voice  in  choral  symphony  with  saints  to 
the  praise  of  his  Creator. 

And  now  I  will  add  the  remaining  word  anent  successor. 
Those  Britons,  who  assert  that  the  Great  German  Liter- 
ature of  Goethe's  Epoch  has  not  been  worthily  maintained 
since,  do  not  in  the  least  know,  are  no  judges  of  such  a 
matter.  But,  granting  the  assertion  true,  my  own  reflec- 
tion would  be,  Does  not  that  lie  very  much  in  the  nature 
of  things?  If,  by  worthily  maintained,  you  mean  main- 
tained at  an  equal  level,  or  anything  approaching  thereto, 
you  are  suggesting  such  a  miracle  as  the  world  has  never 
witnessed,  and  is  never  likely  to  witness.  But  beyond 
that:  In  the  nation,  as  in  the  individual,  a  Right  Word 
is  only  uttered  after  long  silence,  and  is  ever  again  suc- 
ceeded by  long  silence.  Progressive  assimilation  of  the 
uttered  Wisdom  and  steady  diligence  in  worthy  deed  con- 
formable is  not  to  be  concluded  absent  upon  that  account. 
Very  far  from  it !  Similarly,  is  it  not  in  precisely  the  same 
reflection  that  I  yet  have  hope  for  Britain?  Of  Carlyle's 
Word  I  have  written :  '  If  the  new  force  be  unable  to  arrest 
the  sordid  tide,  it  goes  out  of  sight  again ;  falls  silent  for  a 
season,  till  the  crop  of  its  sowing  in  virgin  soil  begin  to 
show.  Moreover,  it  is  now  writ  down  as  a  thing  known, 
to  be  dismissed  with  a  word ;  its  ulterior  issues  foreseen, 
it  is  decreed  felonious ;  sure  only  that  it  is  at  all  moments 
increasing,  and  will  reappear  in  might  when  the  days  are 
accomplished ! '  Yes ;  in  the  English-Speaking  Races,  if 
not  in  Britain;  if  not  in  them,  then  in  others:    Die  that 


278  REAL  CAUSES 

cannot;  it  is  henceforth  part  of  the  inheritance  of  all  the 
Just,  and  can  only  disappear  from  the  earth  when  there 
are  none  of  these  left. 

Verily  the  vital  question  of  Germany  is,  How  is  she  in 
her  Religious  Faith?  Complete  clearness  from  all  Fabled 
Revelations  and  heroic  piety  in  the  pure  fact  of  Man  in 
Nature  must  be  attained  and  forever  maintained.  Without 
the  endeavour  toward  this  there  is,  as  it  were,  nothing. 
Germany,  as  a  nation,  has  not  attained  it.  We  heard  of 
four  hundred  Quack-power,  very  portentous ;  likewise  of  a 
Kaiser  sometimes  reduced  to  pile-driving,  not  satisfied,  he, 
with  the  ware  offered  in  the  shops  about,  though  the 
British  possess  not  a  doubt  that  their  horrid  stews  are 
amply  sufficient  to  secure  salvation,  by  affording  cover  for 
all  sin  they  may  have  a  mind  to  commit.  But  are  the 
Germans  honestly  struggling  toward  it?  that  is  the  ques- 
tion. For,  as  their  own  Schiller  said,  Truth  never  is, 
always  is  a  being. 

As  the  world  stands,  it  is  not  possible  for  Germany  to  be 
veracious  anywhere  unless  she  is  honestly  progressing  in 
that  inner  conquest.  It  is  because  of  their  mendacity  in 
their  religion  that  the  British  are  mendacious  in  all  other 
things.  And  we  do  find  the  Germans  veracious.  Consider 
the  things  I  have  described  a  little  under  head  of  German 
Kaiser:  British  King.  Is  there  not  a  difference  there 
between  the  German  and  the  British  deep  as  the  founda- 
tions of,  at  least  social  being,  a  difference  strictly  infinite? 
And  I  have  not  disguised  the  failings,  or  the  counter-ac- 
tivities ;  know  that,  with  a  nation,  it  is  the  net  sum  which 
tells.  Again,  is  not  that  our  hope  for  Britain,  that  there 
are  counter-activities  in  her  also  ?  But,  as  the  two  confront 
so,  it  is  not  there  'a  plague  o'  both  your  houses.'  In  the 
one,  truth  is  a '  being ;  in  the  other  truth  is  non  extant,  and 
a  horrible  composed  and  unctuous  Mendacity  supplants 


REAL  CAUSES  279 

her.  Consider  those  White  Paper  Despatches:  The  Ger- 
man ones  are  not  those  of  a  Cromwell,  or  even  a  Friedrich, 
but  they  are  true,  so  far  as  they  go ;  and  the  more  you  study 
them,  in  the  light,  not  of  the  British  Mock  Interpretation, 
but  of  the  Facts,  the  greater  will  your  admiration  of  them 
be.  Whereas  the  British  despatches  are  Anointed  Humbug 
from  one  end  to  the  other;  a  sanctimonious  persistence  in 
their  self -created  '  Case, '  unvisited  by  a  thought  that  their 
all  righteous  mightiness  may  not  create  and  insist  on  just 
whatever  'Case'  it  pleases,  let  the  truth  of  the  matter  be 
what  it  may.  Look  at  German  word  and  deed  since  the 
War  began — But  it  is  hardly  possible  to  do  so  through 
such  a  dust  cloud  of  rumours,  lies,  and  angry  mutual 
recriminations  as  prevails  at  present.  So  far  as  one  does 
catch  a  credible  glimpse,  however,  the  same  thing  strikes 
one :  Namely  that  German  word  and  deed  correspond  toler- 
ably. Whether  you  esteem  the  deeds  right  or  wrong, — 
and,  for  my  part,  I  suspend  judgment  almost  wholly, — 
there  is  no  lie,  no  general  lie ;  whilst,  in  the  British,  the 
substratum  of  sacred  falsehood  is  rarely  absent.  It  is 
these  things  which  draw  my  sympathy,  in  which  I  see 
hope.  The  British  breathe  'unconscious  mendacity,' — 
which  is  something  conscious  too,  only  resolved  not  to  be; 
but  the  German  ring  true,  gentle  or  savage,  True.  If  the 
'Modern  Hun,'  dubbed  before  his  deeds  were  committed, 
in  order  that  nobody  might  make  a  mistake  about  them, 
were  a  reality,  instead  of  a  creature  of  imagination,  one 
could  almost  welcome  him  as  an  answer  of  the  just  gods 
to  subtle  Entente  no  Alliance  and  the  soddenness  of  soul 
which  generated  that  Conspiracy.  Grant  the  brutalities, 
the  lust  and  ambition  charged  against  the  Germans  true, 
these  would  not  brand  them  irredeemable.  Many  a  right 
noble  man  and  nation  has  been  guilty  that  way :  but  none 
noble  ever  breathed  Mendacity  as  their  soul's  sustenance, 


280  REAL  CAUSES 

or  went  out  to  war  under  such  Transparent  pretences  as 
the  British  have  to-day  done;  one  could  rejoice  to  see  the 
victory  of  any  Genuine  over  that;  it  is  the  true  World- 
Ogre. 

You  perceive,  then,  that  when  I  say  I  find  the  German 
veracious,  I  by  no  means  necessarily  mean  that  I  find  them 
a  Nation  of  Saints.  Charges  of  ferocity  and  deeds  actually 
terrible,  would  be  no  manner  of  hindrance  to  their  being 
Saints.  British  outcry  at  the  German  for  'brutality,'  is 
after  all,  a  feeble  weke,  weke,  compared  to  what  they 
raised  at  Cromwell,  would  raise  again  were  the  like  of 
him  once  more  among  them.  But,  to  be  direct,  I  do  not  find 
them  a  Nation  of  Saints.  And  it  may  be  that  the  attentive 
and  receptive  reader  is  a  little  perplexed  at  my  simulta- 
neous insistence  on  the  need  of  progress  toward  a  pure 
religious  faith  for  veracity,  and  examples  of  what  he 
probably  reckons  a  very  low  form  of  veracity.  I  will 
advise  him  to  meditate  the  matter,  for  I  do  know  what  I 
mean.  Perchance  the  road  to  that  Faith,  for  a  Nation,  is  a 
longer  and  rougher  one  than  the  reader  wots  of.  So  ac- 
customed as  the  majority  are  to  believe  it  spread  with 
butter.  Men,  in  their  eyes  a  Nation  of  Brutes,  might  be 
further  advanced  along  it  than  many  of  a  more  pleasing 
exterior.  I  grant  completely  that  the  British  appear  every- 
where clothed  in  the  Decency  Principle;  and  they  little 
know,  that  is,  never  will  look  at,  what  it  covers,  holds 
together  better  or  worse,  how  utterly  it  owes  its  mainte- 
nance to  concurrence  in  falsehood,  and  is  in  no  sort  a  vital 
force, — which  a  brute 's  lusts  still  are.  Let  me  take  another 
example  chance-offered:  My  newspaper  yesterday  quoted 
a  German  paper  as  saying,  in  regard  to  some  friction 
between  Austria  and  Italy,  'Moral  considerations  and  com- 
plaints must  give  way  to  political  necessities!'  Shocking! 
You  would  sooner  have  torn  your  tongue  out  than  got 


REAL  CAUSES  281 

up  in  Parliament  and  made  so  plain  a  statement  of  your 
opinion?  That  moral  considerations  and  complaints  must 
give  way  to  political  necessities  was  a  clear  rule  to  Britain 
interfering  in  the  Balkans,  but  the  Concert  had  to  be 
proclaimed  a  Sacred  Court  of  Equity  for  the  Distribution 
of  Justice  and  Maintenance  of  Peace,  else  Grey  had  not 
dared  to  announce  the  interference,  nor  would  the  Publie 
have  sung  his  and  the  Concert's  praises; — neither  unless 
the  rule  had  shone  through  the  transparency.  That  moral 
considerations  and  complaints  must  give  way  to  British 
jealousies  and  animosities  was  a  clear  rule  to  the  Entente; 
but,  without  Belgium  coaxed  into  the  gap  and  made  a 
holy  martyr  of,  Grey  and  Asquith  could  not  have  called 
on  Britain  to  draw  the  sword  in  righteous  vengeance; 
neither  without  the  Transparency.  In  view  of  these  things 
I  can  imagine  many  a  man  devoutly  eschewing  all  claim 
of  righteousness  in  his  cause,  preferring  any  dialect  to  that 
of  such  sodden  abomination ;  and  could  welcome  the  lowest 
form  of  veracity  as  a  blessed  change.  Know,  moreover, 
that  the  lowest  and  the  highest  forms  of  Veracity  are 
indissolubly  united;  that  wherever  the  one  is,  the  other  is 
not  far  off. 

I  have  before  given  my  own  express  denial  to  the  state- 
ments that  Brutality  is  a  characteristic  of  the  Germans. 
May  here  add  that  I  perceive  with  joy  that  there  is  in  them 
a  grimness  which  may  yet  deliver  Europe  from  much  deadly 
twaddle.  Rheims!  I  am  sorry.  But  I  would  rather  all 
Rheims  were  rased  from  the  earth  than  one  of  them  were 
continued  to  be  worshipped  in.  'Catholic  priests  shot  in 
Belgium,'  I  hope  not,  without  good  cause;  know  of  few 
likelier  to  give  it;  from  personal  experience  can  say  I  have 
seldom  set  eyes  on  carrion  fitter  for  the  gallows  than 
even  those  same.  Apart  altogether  from  the  question  of 
the  German's  good  or  ill  administering  of  the  Lord's  jus- 


282  REAL  CAUSES 

tice,  this  is  sure :  Leave  those  '  thrice  deleterious  torpid 
blasphemies'  judicially  unpunished.  Nature  has  means  yet 
to  bring  the  blood  of  the  guilty  thereof  on  their  own 
heads — and  yours. 

Veracity:  Mendacity:  Are  not  all  quarrels  which  are 
of  vital  concern  to  Man  between  these  two  ?  And  can  there 
ever  be  any  doubt  which  will  have  the  ultimate  victory? 
There  can  be  none.  Neither  is  there  any  doubt  that  Men- 
dacity may  often  have  much  temporary  victory  and  can 
do  enormous  evil  before  it  reach  those  Pits  of  Destruction 
it  is  always  speeding  to.  It  is  the  part  of  every  veracious 
man  to  endeavour  to  shorten  its  date  and  prevent  its  ill 
deeds.  Moreover,  always:  'Our  Hope  is  not  built  on  the 
fact  that  injustice  cannot  live,  but  in  the  faith  that  justice 
shall :  the  former  is  a  foregone  certainty ;  the  latter  only 
proven  as  the  men  which  dear  it  in  their  hearts  are  forth- 
coming: They  must  be  here,  and  they  must  be  here  in 
number  and  power  sufficient;  otherwise  the  law  of  Justice 
for  Man  in  Society  gives  the  victory  to  the  evil,  as  what 
the  Society,  on  the  whole,  merited. 

If  there  be  in  Germany  as  a  nation,  a  seed  of  divine  faith 
born  direct  of  the  soul's  own  consciousness,  not  relying  on 
any  manner  of  Report,  but  verifiable  by  each  worthy  in 
the  Here  and  Now,  or  honestly  progressing  toward  this, 
then,  though  she  may  be  defeated,  punished  for  sins  none 
mortal  is  without,  or  for  reasons  known  only  to  heaven, 
and  by  the  far  less  worthy,  yet  she  can  hardly  be  destroyed. 
No ;  in  that  case,  Wisdom  will  be  in  her,  her  Strength  will 
remain  to  her,  and  her  Power  will  spring  again,  more  than 
recovering  all  loss.  Yea ;  and  in  that  case,  I  fear  it  is 
probable  she  will  have  to  fight  Britain  again,  and  perhaps 
again,  but  she  is  not  likely  to  another  time  have  to  front 
such  a  Combination  as  now.    Britain,  having  superciliously 


EEAL  CAUSES  283 

refused,  and  even  rejected  all  Peer's  welcome,  covertly  gone 
into  feud,  and  made  most  wanton  onslaught,  backed  by 
all  the  Legions  she  could  contrive  to  make  common  cause 
with,  or  wheedle  to  her  aid,  has  now  so  declared  herself 
the  jealous-fearful  Foe  of  Germany  that,  unless  she  and 
her  pack  can  verily  cripple  that  nation  beyond  recovery, 
she  will  have  to  suffer  the  penalties.  She  will  have  to 
suffer  the  penalties  in  any  case :  But  I  mean  that,  this  foul 
mendacity  and  jealous  enmity  having  now  broken  out  into 
such  Overt  Act  as  we  are  witness  to,  Britain  will  sooner  or 
later  be  as  Mr.  Churchill  phrased  it,  '  swept  into  the  Past' 
by  Germany.  It  is  a  sort  of  arbitrament,  often  long  pro- 
tracted, which  has  been  tried  many  times,  yet  I  know  no 
instance  in  which  the  ultimate  decision  went  other  than 
one  way.  Neither  do  I  know  of  any  instance  of  Repentance, 
of  return  to  veracity  and  brotherly  equity,  once  things  had 
gone  thus  far.  Is  there  any  faint  glimmer  of  hope  remain- 
ing that  the  British  will  give  such  instance?  At  present 
they  seem  bent  only  to  do  the  cripplement  to  their  satis- 
faction. Apparently  in  some  perverted  imitation  of  the 
Psalmist,  who,  when  given  his  choice  of  Penalties  replied : 
The  Pestilence  then :  Is  it  not  better  to  receive  evil  from 
God  than  man? 

/.    Common  Guilt  of  the  People 

There  has  not,  I  think,  been  many  a  wrongful  war  the 
Guilt  of  which  was  shared  by  the  People,  by  the  whole  mass 
of  the  nation,  in  a  degree  at  all  comparable  with  that  in 
which  the  guilt  of  this  war  is  shared  by  the  British  People. 
I  reckon  the  British  People  far  more  blameworthy  than  the 
People  of  France  or  Russia.  Nay,  I  am  even  inclined  to 
say  that  the  Guilt  is,  if  not  by  any  means  restricted  to  the 
English,  yet  greatly  the  worst  in  the  habitants  of  that  part 


284  REAL  CAUSES 

of  the  little  island  of  Britain  which  lies  south  of  the  Tweed. 
If  you  twit  me  with  being  of  the  race  which  inhabits  north, 
I  cannot  help  it.  There,  I  say,  is  the  Focus  of  Iniquity; 
and,  at  every  remove  from  it,  both  the  intensity  of  the  evil 
itself  is  less,  and  more  palliating  circumstances  come  in. 
From  south  to  north  of  Tweed  is  so  small  a  remove  that 
the  difference  is  little  noteworthy,  perhaps ;  yet  even  there 
it  may  be  that  the  spirit  of  Malignant  Mendacity  is  less, 
that  of  Support  the  Empire  more,  in  evidence ;  whilst  when 
you  cross  the  oceans — !  Nothing  can  absolutely  excuse 
concurrence  in  evil,  yet,  where  there  is  any  worthier  spirit 
in  the  concurrer,  palliating  circumstances  do  extenuate. 
The  Scotch,  as  a  race,  were  for  long  nothing  like  as  men- 
dacious as  the  English,  though  I  do  not  know  that  they  now 
fall  much  short  of  them  in  that  bad  particular;  and,  cer- 
tainly, they  cannot ;  in  the  present  instance,  plead  that  the 
truth  was  more  hidden  from  them  than  from  a  Londoner. 
Colonials  can  better  plead  that  it  was.  The  Mother  country 
has  got  into  quarrel :  We  accept  her  account  of  the  compli- 
cated, and  to  us  distant,  half-intelligible,  Why  and  Where- 
for;  determine  to  support  her  zealously.  Obviously,  the 
farther  you  are  from  the  centre  the  more  possible  it  becomes 
to  be  honest,  or  partially  honest,  in  this  attitude.  The  same 
applies  with  equal  force  to  that  distance,  half-intelligence 
which  is  due,  not  to  miles  of  space,  but  to  social  status  and 
undevelopment  of  intellect.  Mark  well,  however,  that, 
though  many  an  honest  may  thus  have  decided  to  support 
his  country,  fight  for  her,  die  for  her,  not  one  could  take 
up  the  Why  and  Wherefor  supplied  him  as  a  thing  satisfy- 
ing to  his  conscience,  much  less  preach  it  abroad  as  a  gospel 
truth.  No ;  one  and  all  of  the  honest  who  have  decided  so, 
have  done  so  dumbly,  in  a  mere  hope  or  trust  that  their 
country's  cause  was  just.  And,  truly,  except  it  were  the 
quite  unlettered  peasant  boy,  I  do  not  know  how  any  honest 


REAL  CAUSES  285 

could  have  such  hope  or  trust ;  how  it  could  be  possible  for 
an  earnest  Briton  to  go  out  to  this  war  in  a  whole  founded 
assurance  devoid  of  misgivings.  Britain  does  not  to-day 
appeal  to  the  earnest  of  her  sons,  nor  so  much  as  ask  these 
to  fight  for  her;  not  all  Recruiting  Campaigners  have 
uttered  a  word  could  move  the  souls  of  these,  unless  to 
abhorrence. 

The  guilt  is  always  shared  by  the  People ;  it  is  only  the 
degree  in  which  it  is  shared  that  varies,  the  how,  and  direct- 
ness or  indirectness.  If  a  nation  is  led  and  commanded  by 
bad  men,  it  is  forever  its  sins,  sins  of  omission  if  not  of 
commission,  which  have  brought  that  curse  upon  it.  But 
the  degree  is  obviously  affected  by  what  proportion  of  the 
total  number  of  the  People  it  is  that  concurred  with  these 
mischievous  Persons  in  Power.  And  thus  there  are  the 
questions:  How  far  did  they  concur  in  the  evils,  knowing 
them  to  be  evils;  how  far  were  they  deceived,  and  guilty 
for  being  deceivable  ?  Frequently,  large  part  of  a  viciously 
governed  People  has  not  been  concerned  in  their  governor's 
misdeeds,  has  entirely  abhorred  them:  the  nation,  as  a 
whole,  has  not  been  reverent  enough  of  worth  to  get  better ; 
yet  a  respectable  and  resolved  minority  has  been  present, 
who  knew  what  abomination  they  suffered  under,  refused 
to  partake  in  it,  wrought  constantly  for  its  removal  and 
thus  still  gave  promise  of  national  redemption.  Even  in 
times  of  the  worst  Jesuit  ascendency,  this  has  been  true; 
the  nation's  hope  not  ended  till  the  persecution  of  the 
minority,  their  difficult  extirpation,  has  been  'successfully* 
carried  through ;  they  released  from  sorrow,  and  that  na- 
tion's  fate  finally  sealed.  Those  minorities  had  faith  and 
flinched  not.  There  are  minorities  now.  I  have  said  that 
I  have  hope  in  Britons  still  could  tell  yon  Ministry,  there 's 
your  home,  pointing  to  kennel  the  while.  This  minority 
has  faith,  but  it  is  a  minority  in  such  a  minority  as  never 


286  REAL  CAUSES 

was;  and  I  never  said  I  have  hope  it  would  have  present 
power  to  speak  so  with  effect.  There  is  also  another  minor- 
ity much  larger,  I  am  convinced  very  much  larger,  than 
the  unanimous  millions  suspect,  but  it  is  without  faith  and 
is  not  resolved ;  therefore  so  impotent,  utterly  overridden. 

So  much  then,  for  the  direct  Guilt,  and  the  noble  not 
guilty,  however  suffering.  The  Indirect  is  twofold :  That 
which  is  due  to  a  whole  life's  conduct,  such  as  raised  the 
Unworthy  to  power,  though  his  ill  deed  be  still  seen  ill  and 
detested:  That  which  is  due  to  deceivability ;  and  deceiv- 
ability  is  also  a  thing  which  is  determined  by  soundness  or 
unsoundness  of  very  soul.  Both  these  run  very  deep ;  and 
the  degree  of  guilt,  in  that  unconscious  raising  of  the  Un- 
worthy power,  may  be  very  great,  though,  as  long  as  his  ill 
deeds  are  still  seen  to  be  ill,  it  is  not  damning ;  but  persis- 
tence in  a  life 's  conduct  which  has  that  result  soon  obliter- 
ates such  perception,  and  then  the  guilt  has  wrought  dam- 
nation in  you.  Similarly,  the  degree  of  guilt  in  deceivabil- 
ity may  be  anything,  from  almost  nil,  down  to  that  same 
bottomless  mendacity  which  lives  wholly  in  deception,  as  its 
one  means  of  safety,  solacement,  and  self-approbation,  cre- 
ates its  own  transparencies  and  worships  these  as  veiled 
Deity's  face. 

The  British  People  share  the  guilt  of  this  war  with  their 
Government  to  a  terrible  extent  in  all  three  forms,  run  to 
the  height  in  both  the  latter.  As,  indeed,  the  indirect 
method  is  everywhere  that  of  their  choice.  Saturation  in 
Mendacity  is  spread  through  every  rank;  and,  except  it 
were,  the  White  Paper  'Case'  could  never  have  found  ac- 
ceptance ;  rather,  could  never  have  been  brought  into  exist- 
ence. By  a  nation  of  men  bred  in  integrity,  it  would  have 
been  met  by  as  instant  overwhelming  an  indignant  a  repudi- 
ation, as  it  was  met  by  unanimous  applause.  None  living  in 
uprightness,   veracious  of   soul,   but  would   have   utterly 


REAL  CAUSES  287 

eschewed  that  palpable  Mockery  of  Faith  and  visible  Sub- 
terfuge of  vile  jealous  Enmity.  I  have  scarcely  found  a 
man  of  articulate  intelligence  who  has  questioned  it ;  neither 
one  humblest  honest  who  has  given  it  credence.  A  poor 
woman  of  my  acquaintance,  one  of  whose  sons  was  already 
in  the  army  (another  she  would  neither  urge  to  go,  nor  say 
a  word  to  in  dissuasion),  could  not  believe  what  she  was 
demanded  to;  she  was  staggered,  perplexed;  endeavoured 
to  '  do  her  work  as  usual '  but  found  '  it  often  came  over  her, 
as  a  thing  she  knew  not  how  to  endure ' ;  she  has  arrived  at, 
no  clearness,  but  all  the  huge  Proclamation,  which  the 
'  educated '  of  the  district  have  swallowed  whole  and  poured 
out  again  as  ungainsayable  proof  of  the  righteousness  of 
Britain's  cause,  remains  to  her  an  Incredibility.  She 
knows  not  how  to  deny  it,  but  it  is  not  conceivable  to  her 
that  that  could  be  true.  So  is  it  bound  to  be  everywhere 
and  forever.  Simplicity  cannot  answer  the  doctors,  but  it 
has  an  alchemy  against  damned  falsehood.  /,  by  the 
by,  have  never  said  a  word  to  that  woman  concerning  the 
right  or  wrong  of  the  war.  A  Literary  Agent,  whom  I  did 
address  anent  this  present  M.  S.,  replied,  that  he  hoped  I 
would  excuse  him;  'it  was  only  after  very  considerable 
thought  that  he  could  bring  himself  to  realise  the  wicked- 
ness of  the  German  attitude.'  Cook,  too,  concluding  his 
Life  of  Ruskin,  remarks,  that  for  his  part  'he  prefers  to 
believe'  so  and  so.  There  you  have  it.  Who  prefers  to 
believe  will  believe — nothing,  and  be  persuaded  by  what 
pleases  him.  Who  brings  himself  to  believe  wickedness 
will — undoubtedly  do  so. 

Yet  despite  this  complete  Incredibility  to  honesty,  I  never 
had  a  doubt  that  the  notorious  '  Case '  would  be  accepted  as 
it  has  been.  We  have  not  here  a  nation  deceived  by  cun- 
ning men  in  power,  worthy  people  imposed  upon,  zealous  in 
honest  mistake  of  the  facts.     One  knew  at  once,  how  it 


REAL  CAUSES 

would  be  swallowed  whole  with  pious  unction;  a  morsel 
superlatively  suited  to  British  digestion;  knew  who  would 
be  zealous  and  how  far,  as  they  felt  the  warm  glow  spread 
in  their  inwards;  who  would  stand  passive,  murmur  con- 
currence, and  in  solitude  chew  the  cud  with  dubitations 
many.  The  active  man  of  business,  the  clever  professional, 
the  shopkeeper,  and  the  day-labourer,  the  solid  pater- 
familias, and  the  grey-haired  widow  full  of  Church;  one 
never  had  a  moment 's  doubt  how  each  would  variously  take 
it,  and  in  their  several  manners,  join  the  chorus.  For  the 
British  commit  these  iniquities  morally,  in  accordance  with' 
their  regular  customs  and  daily  habit  of  life.  Their  pat- 
ronisation  of  France,  and  snub  of  Germany,  covert  ma- 
chinations under  a  smooth  show  of  virtue;  their  lordly 
righteous  Infamous  Dictation  of  Terms,  and  Dastardly  On- 
slaught in  pretence  of  Holy  Avenger  of  Wrong,  when  those 
Terms  were  not  conformed  to;  were  all  done  in  precisely 
the  same  spirit  as  their  Religious  Worships,  Mock-king  Loy- 
alties and  Social  Reformations :  These  things  emanate  from 
them  spontaneously,  as  the  natural  expression  of  their 
being;  in  such  works  it  is  that  they  think  to  justify  their 
wisdom.  And  in  such  spirit,  not  of  grace,  it  is  they  have 
so  cultivated  Decorous  Mendacity  that  it  is  now  bred  in 
their  bone ;  in  it  do  they  rear  their  children,  to  know  God 
in  nothing. 

Where  Peoples  in  whole  are  thus  guilty,  one  cannot  but 
feel  that  the  Punishment  the  Peoples  merit  will  come  upon 
them.  The  Punishment  is  sure  to  come  sooner  or  later,  in 
one  form  or  another;  but  I  have  a  more  particular  drift 
just  now.  When  I  hear  of  a  Scarborough  bombarded,  of 
unarmed  merchantmen  sunk, — But  be  clear  first  that  I  am 
not  arguing  in  favour  of  such  deeds,  though,  to  be  candid, 
I  do  not  know  how  I  should  have  acted,  if  in  the  same 


REAL  CAUSES  289 

predicament  as  the  German.1  But  I  am  not  here  speaking 
of  admirable  or  unadmirable,  pardonable  or  unpardonable, 
German  methods  of  warfare.  No;  only  partly  of  methods 
of  warfare  I  too  much  fear  probably  in  any  genuine  Pro- 
tagonist in  present  act  of  world-drama,  partly  of  results  all 
too  likely  to  follow  from  present  conditions — Well,  when  I 
hear  of  a  Scarborough  bombarded,  of  unarmed  merchant- 
men sunk,  and  the  like,  my  reflection  is  not, — alas !  no,  it  is 
not  Poor  cattle  of  Nineveh!  It  rather  is:  Probably  there 
was  no  man  or  woman  among  them  who  was  not  guilty. 
And,  in  some  moods,  my  sorrow  is  less  for  such  'innocents' 
than  for  the  brave  soldier  slain  on  the  battle-field.  These 
fates  do  not  fall  by  individual 's  merit ;  Providence  is  very 
vicarious  that  way;  they  fall  by  the  broad  general,  and 
there,  I  say,  my  reflection  is  often  as  written.  As  of  Cabinet 
Ministers  one  could  say,  They  deserve  to  be  sent  to  the  scaf- 
fold, so  of  the  'innocent'  People,  They  deserve  to  be  shot 
without  mercy.  It  is  a  terrible  truth,  but  it  is  one.  No 
Priedrich  could  to-day  commiserate  populations  suffering 
for  the  'Ambitions  of  Persons  in  Power' — It  is  not  that 
Avatar  we  live  under;  it  is  the  Peoples  themselves  who 
plunge  headlong  into  wars,  'led'  by  such  demagogues  as 
are  eager  to  do  their  bidding.  A  demi-god  would  not  to-day 
see  the  guilt  only,  or  even  chiefly,  in  Westminsters,  have 
heart  full  of  pity  for  the  populations.  He  would  have 
heart  full  of  pity  for  both,  but  his  countenance  would  also 
be  stern  to  both,  and  his  terrible  judgments  would  fall  on 
both.  What  then  of  sinful,  fallible  mortals;  and  the 
instinct  of  fact  without  intelligence  ?    Is  it  not  awful  ?    And 

1  No  certainty.  Moreover,  when  I  wrote,  I  had  heard  of  German 
submarine  warfare,  etc.,  solely  through  British  report  of  it — mis- 
report,  as  was  always  evident  enough  from  the  frantic  character  of  it. 
I  have  since  come  to  regard  that  warfare  as  forced  upon  Germany, 
and  justified  in  the  main. — Note  of  sT>  if,  1915. 


290  KEAL  CAUSES 

does  it  not  better  become  us  to  endeavour  to  learn  the 
meaning  of  a  thing  than  to  shriek  over  it? 

Carlyle  wrote  to  Emerson  that  the  New  Age  was  not  to 
be  of  Butter;  that  he  fancied  it  would  be  harder  than  steel 
for  a  long  time  to  come.  He  saw,  with  the  eye  of  prophecy, 
men  fiercer  than  the  old  Buccaneers  descending  on  Emanci- 
pated Populations,  of  various  complexion,  and  dealing  with 
them  in  a  very  savage  manner;  men  who  in  their  savage 
greed  would  know  no  mercy.  Spoke  of  the  Scavenger  Age 
to  come;  of  the  depraved  condition  of  the  Populaces,  of 
Nobilities  that  were  only  Washed  Populaces;  of  the  wrath 
of  the  gods  towards  sothood  and  mendacity ;  of  the  supreme 
strength  of  the  clear  shining  Sunlight,  and  of  the  twinship 
therewith  of  the  Lightning  descending  in  torrent  which 
desolates. 

There  are  these  three  things,  which  it  would  be  well  for 
us  to  know  thoroughly  and  be  able  to  distinguish ;  for  they 
are  simultaneously  existent,  very  intermingled,  and  much 
liable  to  be  confounded  one  with  another. 

1st.  World-wide  Populace  essentially  lawless,  mutinous 
of  spirit,  full  of  a  vicious  Wantonness ;  faithless,  inconstant, 
uncommanded,  disobedient;  anon  furiously  storming  in 
some  Bedlam  Faith ;  lying  chronically  in  a  state  of  torpid 
beastiality  and  sodden  godlessness,  dyked  in,  or  spell-bouTid 
by  the  mystical  power  of  still-enduring  Custom,  but  v  Ji 
on  opportunity  would  gambol  forth  at  once  in  debris  of 
atrocity  could  vie  with  anything  in  the  world's  history. 
And  the  similar  spirit  of  vicious  Wantonness  in  the  Washed 
portion,  whose  delight  is  to  act  thp  oldest  sins  in  newor,+, 
ways;  equally  fit  for  open  atrocit,  ;f  the  bonds  of  Cue'  \ 
be  slacked.    2nd.    The  ferocities  w  ire  not  aimles         3 

savageries  committed  by  men  witL  solute,  stabl  ;- 

pose,  whether  just  or  lust&uL  The  c  e  men  not<  1 


REAL  CAUSES  291 

what  means  they  use  to  gain  their  ends ;  more  visibly  cruel 
in  war  than  in  peace,  yet  not  more  damnably  so.  And  the 
acts  of  men  who  are  intelligent  of  diviner  quest,  whose  souls 
do  seek  the  good,  yet  have  not  been  purified  to  chivalry  in 
all  prosecutions  of  it ;  with  those  which  all  but  all  commit  in 
the  heat  of  action,  or  under  continued  strain.  Also  the  ruth- 
lessnesses  which  are  strictly  justified  by  the  circumstances. 
3rd.  The  grimness  of  temper  in  men  going  out  against 
Principalities  and  Powers,  fronting  solitary  a  World-in- 
arms. And  the  terrible  severities  of  men  doing  battle  with 
those  Populaces,  with  bottomless  mendacity,  and  the  spirit 
of  mutiny.  Very  stern  will  their  souls  be ;  their  laying  on 
of  the  whip  verily  such  as  Cromwell 's  was  a  small  matter  to. 
The  corruption  of  the  ancient  Roman  time  was  redeemed 
by  the  all  suffering  Christian.  It  is  true,  of  course,  that 
the  Christians  were  only  passively  all-suffering  till  grown 
in  number  and  power  sufficient  to  use  force.  After  that, 
they  did  conquer  by  force  of  arms  as  well  as  force  of  soul ; 
and  their  methods  of  doing  it  were  severe  enough.  Never- 
theless, there  is  a  vital  difference  to-day.  The  evil  to  be 
conquered  both  within  and  without  is  totally  different,  and 
the  power  which  can  cope  with  it  is  different.  The  Roman 
sank  in  brutality  and  venality,  wallowed  in  every  descrip- 
tion of  Lust,  gave  unrestrained  vent  to  all  Violence  of  Pas- 
sion. And  the  Christian,  thus  particularly  contrasted, 
taught  meek  continence,  soul  contemplative,  fixed  on  things 
not  of  this  world  ;  his  subsequent  outer  conquests  were  made 
more  instinctly  in  fidelity  to  wider  facts  than  he  could  give 
account  of,  than  intelligently  at  the  command  of  his  faith 
and  philosophy.  The  Modern  has  sunk  in  Mendaciousness 
of  Soul;  he  is  frightfully  encumbered  with  the  dead  and 
rotting  Body  of  Christianity,  his  vital  forces  poisoned  there- 
with ;  he  holds  by  decency  of  behaviour,  as  if  his  salvation 
lay  in  it,  yet  the  evil  propensities,  and  lawless  animalisms 


292  REAL  CAUSES 

are  not  mastered  in  his  State,  and  the  veils  grow  daily 
thinner;  he  is  thoroughly  insubordinate,  and  much  that  is 
basest  in  man 's  nature  is  by  him  sanctified  into  a  Principle, 
to  be  zealously  promulgated  and  fought  for.  And  the  men 
who  can  redeem  and  conquer  this,  foreknow  that  they  have 
got  to  do  both;  they  do  not  by  word  or  act  preach  retire- 
ment from  the  world,  but  the  most  strenuous  activity  in  it. 
Reverent,  veracious,  and  of  a  compass  beyond  what  was 
ever  known  before. 

The  true  'all  sufferance'  of  the  Christian  is  imperishable, 
will  be  found  always  henceforth  in  the  noble  of  the  earth ; 
and  the  Christian  Religion,  as  Goethe  defines  it,  can  indeed, 
be  subject  to  no  dissolution,  must  remain  forever  the  strength 
of  man,  whereby  he  can  rise  again  from  any  abasement. 
But  it  will  merge,  and  lose  name.  I  do  not  look  with  favour 
upon  attempts  to  continue  the  name.    Christendom  was. 

A  spirit  terribly  severe,  which  will  visit  the  sins  of  the 
People  on  the  People ;  yet  measured,  high,  and  truly  merci- 
ful, seeking  to  redeem  rather  than  destroy;  full  of  that 
self-reverence,  from  which  reverence  for  all  others  is  in- 
stantly unfolded. — For  precisely  as  you  see  your  own  soul, 
must  you  see  the  souls  of  one  and  all;  and  as  you  see,  in- 
stead of  mis-see,  must  needs  reverse.  The  lowest  wretch 
is  then  loved,  and  divine  brotherhood  seeks  to  help  him  to 
himself ;  concerned  for  his  defilement,  not  the  poor  slur  he 
casts  on  you.  Since,  even  as  the  majesty  of  your  own  soul 
is  known  to  you,  so  must  your  sympathy  be  quick  for  the 
defacement  of  any  other. — A  spirit  fully  resolved,  in  the 
name  of  the  Most  High,  to  take  such  intelligent  charge  as  it 
can  of  this  earth  and  its  Populaces,  well  aware  that  the 
authority  of  true  god-made  superiors  can  never  be  re-estab- 
lished without  fearful  struggle,  long-protracted,  fluctuat- 
ing, most  bloody ;  but  which  is  sick  of  the  abomination  of  all 
abominations,  and  one  life 's  evil  worth  complaining  of,  the 


REAL  CAUSES  293 

rule  of  the  Baser  over  the  Nobler,  determined  that  wherever 
it  has  power  to  make  this  cease,  it  shall  cease.  Alas,  sirs, 
such  a  spirit  is  but  a  being.  It  has  been,  and  now  is  in 
individuals;  but  it  is  a  very  long  and  rough  road  to  it  in 
Nations,  where  its  deeds  will  be  confounded  and  inter- 
mingled with  the  lawless  horrors.  The  smallest,  crudest, 
incipience  were  more  than  welcome.  It  is  thither  we  must 
strive ;  there,  and  not  in  Democracy 's  Ba  'spels,  lies  our  and 
the  world's  salvation;  and  all  that  is  even  unintelligently, 
or  half  intelligently,  forwarding  progress  thither,  is  blest 
in  comparison  with  all  that  withstands.  '  German  Doctrines 
of  Violence, '  etc.  They  may  be  very  crude,  but  they  are  not 
the  unmitigated  savageries  the  British  name  them.  As  I 
said,  they  are  something  as  mere  antidotes;  but  I  believe 
there  is  a  germ  of  living  truth  in  them,  which  will  yet 
purify.  The  Germans  likewise  have  better  Doctrines  and 
Practices,  such  as  it  were  the  height  of  insolence  in  me 
to  speak  of  as  crude.  Kemember  too,  that  no  Christian 
came  up  to  his  prophet,  and  many  of  the  Saints  were  very 
infirm,  little  saintly,  in  the  modern  acceptation :  but  they  all 
bore  the  great  Prototype  in  their  mind's  eye,  strove  to 
assimilate  his  revelation,  and  this  it  was  which  gave  them 
such  a  saving  grace,  made  their  lives  more  profitable  than 
those  of  many  of  native  worth  superior  who  lacked  that 
grace.  They  were  narrow,  and  excluded  from  their  com- 
munion many  who  would  have  partaken  had  not  the  truths 
they  stood  for  been  denied.  Do  you  suppose,  that  if  those 
Christians  had  not  consciously  had  any  Prototype,  yet  still 
tended  in  the  same  direction,  exhibited  the  same  conduct, 
this  would  have  altered  the  fact,  prevented  them  from  being 
the  world 's  redeemers  ?  It  would  have  greatly  modified  the 
fact,  but  not  reversed  it.  Deification  also,  and  all  attribu- 
tion of  more  than  human  inspiration  is  of  the  Past :  Rever- 
ent recognition  of  the  supremely  noble  of  men  as  supremely 


294  REAL  CAUSES 

noble,  a  worshipful  emulation  of  them,  gratefully  endeav- 
ouring to  make  the  manhood  which  they  have  realised  our 
own  also,  is  of  the  Eternal.  How  many  Germans  perceive, 
with  the  religious  fervour  and  devout  all-suffering,  all- 
daring  resolution,  inseparable  from  the  genuine  perception, 
that  in  Goethe  and  Carlyle  the  world  has  already  had  the 
Concrete  Exemplars  necessary  for  its  redemption;  that 
these  men  won  the  Open  Secret,  led  the  way  into  the  bound- 
less kingdoms  of  the  future,  and  have  now  made  it  pos- 
sible for  every  earnest  man  to  have  the  Faith  he  needs  to 
make  him  in  all  points  a  Man; — how  many  Germans  are 
completely  aware  of  this,  diligent  in  deed  in  that  Faith,  I 
do  not  know  at  all.  But  I  believe  very  thoroughly,  that  the 
German  Nation  is  eminent  above  every  other  for  advance 
toward  that  Faith  and  deed  in  it;  that  the  present  world's 
war  upon  Germany  is  due,  in  its  central  essence,  to  the  fact 
that  she  is  so ;  that  this  enormous  Combination  against  her 
is  the  perennial  attempt  of  the  Infidel  Legions  to  crush  the 
One  in  whom  their  instinct  warns  them  the  rising  Might 
of  Man  most  dwells. 

0  ye  British,  who  believe  in  butter,  see  how  your  churn 
runs  blood  to-day!  You  hope  that,  after  this  last  great 
effort  to  destroy  the  believer  in  steel,  it  shall  henceforth 
drip  only  with  the  cream  of  all  kindness  ?  So  say  the  devils 
ever.  Salvation  lies  not  in  smooth  mendacity,  damnation 
does.  Pity  it  is  you  would  not  consider  what  a  boiling 
chaos  and  true  Medea  cauldron  it  actually  is,  which  the 
brave  have  to  shape  into  a  cosmos,  the  nations  emerge  from 
new  made.  You  might  then  have  been  one  to  help  shape, 
instead  of  one  to  plunge  all  nations  in,  to  whirl  the  mad- 
der, in  furious  united  oath  no  shaping  shall  be,  but  Trig- 
laph  worshipped  in  his  proper  ugliness.  To  you,  he  is  the 
Supreme  of  this  Universe,  to  be  adored  with  upturned  eyes, 
and  psalmody  from  all  the  swineries. 


REAL  CAUSES  295 

I  will  close  this  section  on  the  Common  Guilt  of  the  Peo- 
ple with  a  word  of  Goethe 's,  in  Bayard  Taylor 's  rendering, 
which  may  a  little  voice  the  feelings  of  many  troubled  at  the 
Penalties  which  fall  upon  the  People  for  that  guilt. 

PATER  PROFUNDUS 

'Around  me  sounds  a  savage  roaring, 
As  rocks  and  forests  heaved  and  swayed. 
Yet  plunges,  bounteous  in  its  pourings, 
The  wealth  of  waters  down  the  glade, 
Appointed,  then,  the  vales  to  brighten; 
The  bolt,  that  flaming  struck  and  burst, 
The  atmosphere  to  cleanse  and  lighten, 
Which  pestilence  in  its  bosom  nursed, — 
Love's  heralds  both,  the  powers  proclaiming, 
Which,  aye  creative,  us  enfold. 
May  they,  within  my  bosom  flaming, 
Inspire  the  mind,  confused  and  cold, 
Which  frets  itself,  through  blunted  senses, 
As  by  the  sharpest  fetter- smart! 
O  God,  soothe  Thou  my  thoughts  bewildered, 
Enlighten  Thou  my  needy  heart.' 

— Last  scene  of  Faust,  second  part. 

II.   Dubieties  and  Certainties 

I  spoke  of  these  in  the  opening  paragraph  of  the  Proem ; 
and  what  I  meant,  ought  by  now  be  as  clear  to  the  Reader 
as  I  can  make  it,  without  special  word  thereon.  There  is, 
also,  the  next  chapter.  I  have  made  no  statement  of  the 
truth  of  which  I  am  not  convinced;  and  wherever  I  have 
doubt,  I  have  shown  that  I  have  it. 

In  the  main,  but  not  without  large  exception  in  both 
cases,  I  have  Certainty  in  regard  to  the  British,  Dubiety  in 
regard  to  the  Germans.  Necessarily :  By  the  Circumstance 
that,  being  myself  a  Briton,  I  have  far  greater  knowledge 


296  REAL  CAUSES 

of  the  British :  By  the  Fact  that  Dubiety  is  quite  inevitable 
in  whoever  has  such  hopes  of  the  German  as  I  have.  We 
know  the  doom  of  the  false;  we  have  faith  in  the  true. 
None  can  say  what  the  Living  will  grow  to,  or  what  his 
fate  Avill  be. 

The  utter  wrongfulness  of  Britain's  action  in  going  into 
this  war,  is  a  thing  perfectly  certain  to  me.  She  has  made 
her  own  confession  openly  before  the  world,  and  is  damned 
on  her  own  evidence.  There  is  not  one  word  in  this  book, 
which  I  have  written,  of  German  justification  of  Germany, 
of  German  condemnation  of  Britain :  it  is  a  Briton 's  assur- 
ance you  have  here,  that  of  one  who  has  never  asked  the 
German  for  his  Defence ;  nor  experienced  the  smallest  need 
to  have  it;  to  him  the  British  Prosecution  has  been  abun- 
dantly satisfying,  and  he  has  never  thought  the  'Case' 
worth  sending  to  a  Jury.  British  Juries,  also,  in  another 
sort,  never  thought  the  Defence  worth  asking  for ;  gave  the 
verdict  the  Judge-Prosecutor  demanded  instantly,  waived 
decision.  All  that  I  have  said  of  British  Mendacity,  spirit 
in  making  the  war,  etc.  etc. ;  I  am  likewise  perfectly  certain 
of.  And  though  most  Britons  make  it  their  glory  at  pres- 
ent, to  charge  iniquity  on  the  German  and  sanctify  them- 
selves, there  is  a  minority  who  think  our  own  sin  the  more 
profitable  enquiry. 

As  for  that  possible  just  basis  for  Britain's  action,  in- 
stinctive, not  intelligent,  I  meant  many  things  by  this ;  far 
more  than  I  can  think,  much  less  speak.  Net  sum  of  virtue 
in  a  nation  certainly  is  a  thing  which  no  mortal  can  tell; 
and,  if  the  triumph  of  the  German  were  not,  on  the  whole 
for  good,  Britain  could,  conceivably,  have  been  therefore 
drawn  into  opposition:  Such  a  problem  as  that  is  entirely 
beyond  human  ken;  and,  were  the  answer  affirmative,  it 
would  not  one  jot  lessen  the  guilt  of  the  wrongfulness  in 
the  opposition  made.    Neither  do  we  know  at  all  what  the 


REAL  CAUSES  297 

purposes  of  Eternal  Providence  are :  and  you  cannot  plead 
Innocent!  because  your  iniquities  fulfilled  them.  In  the 
first  weeks  of  the  war,  before  I  had  begun  writing  this,  I 
wrote  in  a  private  letter,  'yet  one  has  the  feeling  that  there 
is  that  in  the  British  Genius  which  surpasses  the  German.' 
Now  in  saying  this,  I  know  that  that  very  Democracy  matter 
was  uppermost  in  my  mind  at  the  moment.  I  meant  that  I 
thought  the  Best  of  the  British  could  rule  in  a  wider,  juster 
spirit.  But  I  do  not  know  that  the  facts  justify  such  a 
thought ;  and,  if  true,  I  am  afraid  it  is  only,  as  it  was  with 
the  passing  Romans,  when  abroad,  and  over  a  different 
race.  Moreover,  I  am  bound  to  add,  that  the  more  I  medi- 
tate the  whole,  the  more  f atef ully  evil  does  Britain 's  action 
show  itself  to  me.  Whether  there  is  that  in  her  could  ever 
effect  her  redemption  is  a  Dubiety  indeed :  on  some  things 
one  should  not  utter  one's  full  thought. 

The  entire  rightfulness  of  Germany's  conduct  is  not  a 
thing  that  one  has  ever  dreamt  of  asserting.  The  Germans, 
I  should  think,  know  themselves  to  be  fallible  mortals ;  and 
I,  as  a  Briton  of  another  quality  than  those  whose  soul's 
workings  have  wrought  this  war,  naturally  prefer  to  leave 
it  to  the  German  writer  to  speak  of  his  nation 's  sins,  short- 
comings and  perversions.  I  do  not  know  the  interior  mys- 
teries of  German  statesmanship,  etc. ;  am  not  competent  to 
speak  of  that.  Much  less  are  Asquith  &  Co.  competent; 
who  have  never  tried  to  know  the  truth  of  Germany  past 
or  present,  but  persisted  in  exposed  misconception,  and 
built  in  vicious  fancy.  In  many  and  many  a  point,  I  know 
neither  what  the  truth  was,  nor  what  spirit  was  at  work; 
nor,  in  present  time  and  circumstance,  were  it  often  possible 
to  know.  The  British  have  their  lying  prophets  by  the 
thousand,  who  have  professed  to  declare  all  that,  and,  in 
fact,  declared  quite  another  thing.  Their  word  is  not  worth 
a  rush.    Even  where  one  is  certain  of  the  presence  of  great 


298  REAL  CAUSES 

nobleness,  there  is  always  the  question  of  its  sufficiency  for 
the  task  before  it;  and,  in  Nations,  the  further  supreme 
Dubiety  of  the  amount  of  it,  the  degree  in  which  it  has  the 
mastery  of  the  baser,  the  whole  in  discipline. 

There  is  one  sort  of  Dubiety,  in  this  regard,  which  ought 
not  to  be  in  us :  That  which  is  due  to  Vertigo  produced  by 
the  sounding  of  Ram's  Horns.  I  do  not  know  that  there  is 
any  man  wholly  devoid  of  tendency  to  be  so  affected,  the 
stablest  have  freely  confessed  it.  There  is  always  'some- 
thing magical  about  it ;  as  if  Pan,  or  some  god,  were  in  it, 
and  one's  Jericho  is  the  apter  to  fall.'  Jericho,  I  believe, 
was  honestly  got  by  that  method;  its  inhabitants  struck 
with  dread  by  the  choral  song  of  a  People  united  in  the 
name  of  Jehovah.  Hence  the  magic  influence.  But  it  is 
a  sorry  thing  if  the  unholy  apery  of  his  shake  us  at  all. 
It  is  by  much  the  more  common,  and  there  are  many  an- 
cient fables  upon  it.  Perie-zadeh  had  to  wear  cotton  wool 
to  escape  the  fate  of  her  brothers;  a  wholesome  practice. 
Truly  there  should  be  no  difficulty  in  distinguishing  an 
Unanimous  Babel  from  such  a  Choral  Song ;  yet  it  is  strange 
what  an  influence  it  has  on  those  who  live  in  the  midst  of 
it.  A  sort  of  recurring  misgiving,  as  if  the  Babel  must  be 
right;  the  smallest  straw  which  seems  to  confirm  it,  pro- 
ducing doubts,  and  scarcely  all  the  overwhelming  facts 
per  contra  able  to  afford  support  against  temptation  to  go 
with  the  stream.  It  is  so  with  too  many;  yet  surely  the 
effect,  if  any  effect  were  right,  ought  to  be  directly  the 
reverse ;  the  Babel 's  assurance,  as  a  thing  normally  against 
the  truth,  strengthen  ours.  In  the  present  case,  I  have  not 
known  one  person  accordant  with  the  stream,  whose  accor- 
dance therewith  was  not  to  me  visibly  the  result  of  evil 
affinity,  would  not  have  been  a  foregone  conclusion. 

Certainties  and  Dubieties !    I  have  Certainty  of  the  guilt 


REAL  CAUSES  299 

of  those  whose  guilt  is  open  and  self-evident,  whose  soul's 
mendacity  is  palpable.  Round  the  path  of  Man  through 
this  world  Dubieties  forever  hover :  He  is  still  encompassed 
with  Time,  rests  not  yet  in  the  stillness  of  Eternity. 


CHAPTER   VII 
ISSUES 


VII 

ISSUES 

The  Issues  of  the  War  and  The  Things  at  Issue  in  it  must 
needs  all  be  results  of  the  Real  Causes,  and  as  boundless, 
unfathomable.  Our  part  but  to  continue  consideration  of 
a  few  elements,  to  hold  by  what  we  know,  look  at  some  of 
the  forces  at  work,  and  reflect  a  little  how  it  may  be  if  the 
Event  falls  this  way,  and  if  it  falls  that.  Briefly  too ;  for, 
where  there  is  an  If  of  this  description,  it  is  better  to  wait 
the  decision.  So  far  as  possible,  however,  we  shall  stick  by 
things  in  which  there  is  no  if. 

Of  course  the  grand  immediate  Issue  is,  "Who  is  going  to 
win  f  The  British  profess  to  have  no  doubt,  nor  do  I  think 
they  really  have  1  any  worth  speaking  of,  that  the  Numbers, 
vast  resources  of  that  Combination,  they  are  so  proud  to  be 
a  member  of,  must  win.  They  are  truly  thankful  that  their 
Cause  has  been  painted  presentably  righteous  by  Asquith, 
Grey  &  Co :  but  their  trust  is  in  the  Magnitude  of  the  Com- 
bination they  so  glory  to  belong  to.  It  is  for  the  present 
happy  Issue  of  their  Subtle  Entente,  grown  Alliance,  when 
the  already  Begotten,  not  of  the  Lord,  had  to  be  acknowl- 
edged, to  save  the  charge  of  whoredom,  imperatively  needed 
to  be  christened  a  Messiah, — that  they  chiefly  bless  them- 
selves. The  more  observant  had  for  sometime,  marked 
the  condition  of  the  Entente,  but  Asquith,  Grey  &  Co.  took 
God  to  witness  they  had  never  come  near  her,  and  the  Doc- 

*At  the  time  I  wrote.  I  think  considerable  doubt  is  spreading 
among  them  now. — Note  of  July,  1915. 

303 


304  ISSUES 

tors  gave  their  evidence  it  was  merely  tympanitic,  these 
growing  armaments  and  naval  demonstrations  just  bluff; 
which,  in  view  of  the  known  prevalence  of  wind  and  blue 
vapour,  artistically  arranged,  in  some  quarters,  might  have 
seemed  possible,  had  not  too  many  other  medical  symptoms 
combined  to  give  assurance  there  would  be  a  Birth.  Then, 
when  the  Birth  came,  what  a  gratulation  for  Immaculate 
Conception  by  Politicians  bred  in  mendacity,  and  song  not 
of  Angels,  nor  promising  Peace  or  Good- will  upon  earth! 
And  how  the  British  do  glory  in  the  Triple  Whale-Cub  of 
their  boiling !  Every  motor-car  you  meet  upon  their  roads 
has  the  various  flags  fluttering  madly  on  its  snout.  It  is 
the  universal  Coat  of  Arms  to-day  in  Britain ; — the  Union 
Jack  with  vertical  and  horizontal  Tricolour  on  either  side, 
Japs  and  minors  interwoven  in  the  richer  designs.  They 
paint  it  on  their  dinner  services,  blazon  it  on  their  coaches, 
jugs  and  dishes,  perhaps  their  very  chamber  pots.  Wher- 
ever you  go  it  meets  you ;  one  church  x  near  where  I  live  is 
hung  with  all  the  flags,  decorated  for  the  Harvest  Festival 
of  Blood,  the  German  execrated  from  the  pulpit  and  Holy 
War  proclaimed  with  all  the  zeal  of  Turk.  Each  farmer 
and  his  labourers  wears  a  medallion  pinned  on  his  coat- 
lappet,  usually  with  the  motto,  'United  We  Stand'  round 
the  top.  Without  the  Slav  and  Celtic  props,  where  were 
we?  God  could  hardly  help  us  lonesome;  that  mightier 
German  devil  would  prong  us  out  of  our  island.  But,  with 
the  Nescient  and  Atheistic  to  help  us,  we  will  call  loudly 
on  His  name,  can  dispense  with  his  aid,  and  hurl  the 
Lucent  Believer  down.  Could  British  fathers,  mothers, 
but  realise  a  little  what  it  is  that  they  glory  in,  are  teaching 
their  children  to  worship,  they  might  strike  a  bar  sinister 
through  all  that  blazonry,  tear  the  medallions  from  off  their 

1  Church  of  Thaxted,  in  Essex.    Visited  about  the  time  of  Harvest 
Festival,  1914. 


ISSUES  305 

breasts  and  weep  that  these  symbolised  had  ever  found" 
place  in  their  hearts 

The  British  may  be  correct  in  their  assumption  that  the 
Combination  will  win;  their  talk  of  Britain  winning  is  too 
fulsome.  But  I  can  tell  them  it  was  never  other,  and  can 
never  be  other  then  Woe  to  those  who  put  their  trust  in 
numbers,  vast  resources,  win  by  these.  Yea,  even  where 
these  are  their  own,  tenfold  more  so  when  the  far  larger 
proportion  is  foreign  aid.  Britain  won  her  supremacy,  as 
every  other  has,  against  odds,  and  without  aiming  at  su- 
premacy. A  great  Empire  can  often  last  long  by  numbers, 
etc. :  yet  from  the  day  it  wins  by  these,  has  come  to  put  its 
faith  in  these,  it  is  sinking,  nor  can  all  the  millions,  and 
the  whole  earth  for  resource  save  it.  No  '  two-power  stand- 
ard' was  ever  dreamt  of  in  the  days  when  Britain  won  her 
dominion  of  the  seas;  she  shattered  great  fleets  with  few 
ships  and  small.  To-day  she  can  only  besiege  the  German 
with  half  the  world  at  her  back,  pen  him  by  huge  prepon- 
derance of  fleet.  No  chanticleer  crows  louder  than  the 
Britain  of  to-day  over  Germany;  and  it  is  only  by  swamp 
of  numbers,  advantage  of  circumstance,  that  she  and  her 
Allies  have  been  able  to — keep  Germany  penned  and  snatch 
unprotected  colonies.  Little  of  decisive  may  yet  have  been 
tried  at  sea,  but  what  little  has  been  tried  goes  rather  to 
show  that  with  equality  of  ship  and  gun  the  German  is  a 
match  for  the  Briton; — which  could  never  be  said  of  any 
before.  Whilst  on  land — Is  there  any  doubt  where  the 
German  would  by  now  have  been  had  he  only  had  France 
and  Britain  to  contend  with  west,  no  Russia  hanging  on 
him  east?  Hapless  Belgium  too  was  a  priceless  Buffer  to 
stuff  in  the  gap ;  kept  in  good  fit  and  suitable  humour  for 
that  object.  How  the  Briton  weeps  to  see  her  after!  He 
can  do  it  better  than  the  crocodile,  for  his  tears  are  warm 


306  ISSUES 

as  well  as  wet.  Besides,  he  would  so  fain  restore  her,  lest 
wanted  for  the  same  again. 

Undoubtedly  the  Combination  may  win,  what  you  call 
winning,  so  far  as  we  can  tell.  But,  if  so,  how  will  it  have 
won?  By  subtlety,  by  foul  conspiracy,  under  name  of 
blessed  Entente,  meaning  ill  to  no  creature,  a  true  Soapy 
Sam,  in  whose  mouth  butter  would  scarce  melt.  (My  wife 
often  twits  me  with  bearing  such  an  exterior  and  deceiving 
simple  persons  who  little  know. )  By  weight  of  number  and 
size  of  purse.  ( 0  my  friends,  I  hope  Redemption  still  is  in 
store  for  some  of  us.  It  is  much  needed.)  The  Euro- 
pean Nations  have  proclaimed  the  superiority  of  Germany 
in  the  completest  way  they  could.  No  two  able  to  confront 
her;  their  one  hope  that  she  may  not  prove  too  strong  for 
them  all.  This  is  not,  one  would  think,  a  consummation 
such  as  Messrs.  Asquith  &  Co.  would  have  devoutly  prayed 
for,  however  zealously  they  wrought  for  it.  And  as  for 
that  Confidence  in  Numbers,  what  are  we  to  make  of  it, 
when  we  reflect  on  many  a  Bannockburn,  Leuthen,  and 
Marathon,  a  Seven  Years'  War  and  its  final  result? 

Such  Confidence  does  commonly  augur  the  defeat  of  those 
who  go  out  to  battle  in  it,  and  is  normally  found  in  those 
opposed  to  heroic  few.  But  we  cannot  from  the  presence 
of  it  in  the  one  party,  conclude  the  presence  of  heroic 
spirit  in  the  other,  nor  that  able  captaincy  so  vitally  neces- 
sary. Very  early  in  the  war,  when  the  newspapers  were 
all  clamouring  of  German  arrogance,  imagination  of  flam- 
ing conquests  etc.,  etc. :  I  noticed  report  of  an  accidental 
conversation  with  a  quite  private  and  civilian  German. 
The  imagination  of  flaming  conquests!  Who  doubts  there 
was  plenty  of  it  in  the  heads  of  Editors,  and  Populace  of 
all  ranks?  It  is  always  to  be  found  there  in  such  circum- 
stances. And  great  hopes,  as  well  as  anxieties  in  other 
heads,  which  never  made  war  for  conquest.     The  private 


ISSUES  307 

German's  reply  to  his  interrogator  was  given  as:  They  (the 
Allies)  may  reduce  us  to  a  condition  of  stalemate;  but  they 
will  never  subject  us.  Or,  if  so,  there  will  be  none  of  us 
remaining  here  (i.e.  not  fighting).  That  is  the  temper  to 
build  hope  on,  if  hope  be  needed.  The  temper  which  can 
scorn  hope,  or  do  better  than  scorn  it,  be  above  the  need 
of  it  and  resolute  to  die  first,  at  least  to  front  death  fight- 
ing while  means  of  fighting  are  left.  What  spirit  is  in  the 
German  armies  and  their  leaders  I  have  no  means  of  know- 
ing this  instant.  But  I  do  know  and  again  assert  that  all 
heroism  of  which  man  is  capable  is  open  to  the  German  if 
he  can  rise  to  it;  whilst  the  utmost  that  is  possible  in  the 
Allies  is  limited.  The  German  is  fighting  for  his  country's 
existence  as  a  nation,  and  for  more  than  we  can  reckon ;  to 
him  the  fullest  resolution  is  possible,  if  he  can  but  con- 
stantly rise  to  it,  one  in  a  thousand  to  leaven  the  whole ;  to 
the  highest  of  all  spirits  there  is  no  bar  for  him.  The 
Allies  are  fighting  against  One  whom  they  have,  for  their 
purposes,  labelled  a  Common  Enemy,  done  all  they  could  to 
make  out  deserving  of  destruction,  for  divers  reasons  of 
State  and  Humanity's  Progress;  to  them  is  possible  mess- 
room  honour,  exploit,  hardihood,  with  the  vindictive  and 
the  lying  zeals ;  virtues  of  the  soldier  by  trade,  who  had  to 
fight  irrespective  of  cause,  and  those  of  honest  ignorance. 
Limited  and  illimitable,  finite  and  infinite;  spontaneous 
convictions,  which  need  no  proof,  and  inculcated  accepted  of 
hearsay;  veracious  intelligence  and  mendacious  persua- 
sions ;  the  Volition  of  man,  which  is  immortal,  and  the  self 
wills  which  are,  in  a  double  sense,  mortal :  If  there  be  any 
such  contrast  as  that,  what  are  all  human  calculations? 

"When  we  turn  to  Confidences,  if  you  still  call  them  Con- 
fidences, which  are  not  based  on  number  and  are  in  nothing 
quasi,  my  own  deepest  are,  confessedly,  centred  here  in 
that  clear  sight  and  knowledge  of  true  German  character 


308  ISSUES 

and  history  which  Carlyle  eminently  laid  open  for  us.  This 
is  not  faith  in  another's  Report,  though  in  such  case,  that 
also  we  may  rightly  have ;  it  is  what  I  have  just  called  it, 
clear  sight  of  the  facts.  For,  to  whoso  has  ear  to  hear,  and 
eye  to  see,  there  is  no  possible  doubt  about  them.  These 
things  certainly  were  so ;  and  the  Report  bears  its  own  evi- 
dence of  its  truth  in  its  own  substance ;  we  are  there  asked 
to  believe  no  fable  or  miraculous  occurrence,  to  put  our 
faith  in  anything  we  cannot  ourselves  find  true :  there  are 
some  men  who  cannot  lie,  and  there  are  some  things  which 
cannot  be  imagined.  One  knows  very  well  that  the  Present 
is  not  the  same  as  the  Past,  but  one  also  knows  very  well 
that  it  is  the  child  of  the  Past.  The  British,  French,  Rus- 
sian and  Austrian  actions,  present  existences,  are  all  visibly 
of  known  parentage ;  and  so  are  the  German.  The  contrast 
between  the  German  and  those  others  was  very  great  before, 
nor  do  I  believe  it  to  be  less  to-day.  It  is  only  those  who 
have  gained  a  little  insight  into  the  perennial  in  man,  into 
the  eternal  laws  of  his  being,  become  able  to  distinguish  all 
forms  of  the  genuine  from  all  forms  of  the  spurious,  who 
can  see  this  and  know  this,  but  they  do  both  see  it  and 
know  it.  The  present  generations  are  not  the  same,  but 
they  are  spherical  descendents ;  and  who  denies  the  Father- 
hood knows  nought  of  the  Sonship.  That  virtue  of  the 
German,  Carlyle  revealed  to  us,  was  of  the  vital,  growing 
sort,  not  of  the  decadent,  of  the  prime  or  past  prime ;  and 
no  question  it  has  continued  to  grow,  has  new  perils  to 
overcome  within  and  without.  All  turns  on  its  power  to 
cope  with  these ;  of  its  existence  there  is  no  doubt.  When 
I  reflect,  as  I  constantly  do,  on  that  veracity  of  character, 
fidelity  of  soul,  veridical  piety;  that  indomitable  valour, 
indefatigable  energy,  with  placidity  and  profoundest  con- 
templation, solidity  of  the  earth  and  aerial  lightness  of  the 
realms  of  faery  •  that  wide  openness  of  intellect,  and  vigor- 


ISSUES  309 

ous  forward  inarch  in  all  provinces  of  true  human  endea- 
vour, rootedness  with  boundless  expansibility ;  that  free  vi- 
tality resolute  to  live  in  the  Whole,  the  Good,  the  True, 
instead  of  the  Reputable,  Plausible,  Half; — O  Britain! 
Briton !  Why  could  you  not  shake  hands  with  this,  instead 
of  bosoming  with  Bears  and  Light  Wenches?  When  I  re- 
flect on  these  things,  I  say,  there  is  in  the  background  of 
my  mind,  always  an  Incredibility  that  Germany's  day  is 
over ;  that  she  will  not  in  one  way  or  another  come  through, 
and  still  have  a  great  Future  before  her.  For  one  sees  in 
her  that  which,  and  which  alone,  is  the  enduring  strength 
of  a  nation.  A  desirable  Kultur  indeed,  very  different 
from  faith  in  Bedlam's  Axiom  and  the  Zeals  of  Mendacity! 
— And  owns  the  inmost  feeling  that  if  she  is  true  to  herself 
she  must  survive  to  brighter  destinies  than  this  stern  pres- 
ent. This  Confidence  does  not  imply  confidence  in  her 
proving  palpable  victor:  it  is  enough  if  she  can  withstand 
the  shock  of  the  onslaught  made  upon  her.  And,  in  spite 
of  all  anxieties,  in  spite  of  all  desolations  and  horrors,  I 
have  a  sort  of  Restfulness  that  this  Issue  has  been  put  to 
the  sword;  a  certain  inward  peace  and  thankfulness  that 
here  is  no  tongue-fence,  but  a  more  determining.  There 
may  be  much  crowing  after  too ;  yet  the  dust-clouds  will  fly 
off  in  the  wind,  the  facts  remain.  At  the  worst,  let  her  die 
fighting,  and  she  will  have  done  worthily.  Profitable  vic- 
tory is  not  possible  to  such  a  Combination. 

Nevertheless,  there  can  be  no  just  'Confidence'  which 
does  not  submit  itself  wholly  to  the  will  of  heaven.  To  do 
our  utmost  in  that  submission,  yet  never  make  it  an  excuse 
for  shirk  or  cowardly  relinquishment.  And  I  am  bound  to 
acknowledge  a  great  counter  impression,  or  one  which  may 
at  first  seem  counter.  Namely,  that  the  Law  of  Providence 
is  that,  at  present,  the  Better  shall  be  everywhere  defeated, 
what  you  call  defeated ;  so  far  as  possible,  frustrated,  and 


310  ISSUES 

reduced  to  a  minimum  of  effectuality  in  Society.  On  the 
small  scale,  in  the  private  instances,  this  is  pretty  well 
universally  the  rule.  In  Britain,  it  is,  practically,  com- 
pletely so;  there  that  godless  leaven  of  mendacity,  and 
serene  assurance  of  validity  in  faith  which  are  baseless  and 
sordid,  has  so  infected  the  whole  mass,  reached  such  a 
height  of  assurance,  that  none,  who  is  not  an  Equivocator, 
and  has  not  accepted  those  nonsensical  doctrines  as  a  gos- 
pel, is  admitted  into  any  species  of  communion,  from 
Church  and  Senate  to  Trades  Union  and  Social  Circle. 
The  British  may  rage  in  fear  at  aught  of  the  god-like  threat- 
ening to  grow  to  power  abroad,  but  at  home  they  have  no 
wrath  toward  this;  secure  in  a  composed  Exclusion,  and 
satisfied  that  nothing  of  that  nature  could  ever  come  to 
majority  among  them.  Mammon  is  their  one  solid  god,  and 
all  theme  beyond  must  go  with  one  or  other  of  the  popu- 
larities. They  have  the  greatest  shamelessness  and  freedom 
even  from  misgiving  that  I  have  ever  witnessed,  in  simul- 
taneously acknowledging  that  wisdom  is  wisdom  and  pass- 
ing over  it  as  a  thing  of  no  account.  You  would  say  that 
their  soul's  conviction  is:  God  certainly  is  God,  and  we 
know  better.  Or,  if  not  better,  which,  to  be  just  to  them, 
they  would  usually  scruple  to  say,  yet  well  enough  for  this 
world,  where  it  is  our  law  and  not  His  that  prevails.  Quite 
softly,  as  a  rule,  and  even  with  a  tone  of  regret  that  such 
is  the  necessity  of  things ;  but  with  what  a  venom  of  Shall 
Prevail!  if  the  prevalence  seem  to  be  imperilled,  all  men 
may  know  this  hour.  Now,  though  it  may  never  have  been 
seen  before,  I  have  all  along  admitted  that  it  is  possible  for 
the  World  to  do  with  One  Nation,  precisely  as  a  Nation  can 
with  an  Individual.  Germany  once  satisfactorily  burnt  at 
the  stake,  the  composed  Exclusion  is  to  follow,  and  no 
wrath  to  come :  That  is  the  Blest  Land  of  Promise  we  are 
told  to  reckon  no  cost  too  great  to  reach.    Personally,  I  do 


ISSUES  311 

not  rejoice  in  the  prospect,  nor  much  believe  in  the  attain- 
ment. But  the  truth  is  that,  where  the  world  is  sufficiently 
evil,  the  like  of  this  can  be  done,  in  modified  form;  is,  in 
fact,  bound  to  be  done,  if  the  evil  be  sufficiently  intense 
and  widespread.  Because  no  man  prospers  or  fails  socially 
by  his  own  merit  or  demerit  alone,  but  by  that  of  the  whole 
Society  he  is  a  member  of;  and  the  same  is  becoming 
increasingly  true  of  nations,  as  they  come  to  live  and 
move  in  one  sphere,  inhabit  a  known  globe  with  interests 
and  activities  everywhere  interwoven,  instead  of  being  sepa- 
rate centres,  little  communicating.  That,  I  repeat  again 
and  again,  is  Justice  for  Society ;  that  the  Good  shall  only 
prosper  socially  as  the  Whole  deserves  that  it  should.  Where 
the  vital  force  is,  and  can  continue  to  maintain  itself,  there 
is  no  doubt  of  its  ultimate  victory,  for  all  the  powers  of 
Increase  are  with  it ;  but  its  immediate  conquest  or  defeat, 
the  degree  of  either,  is  always  determined  by  more  than 
its  own  powers.  Ill-doers,  still  equipt  with  a  great  inherited 
possession  remain  very  strong  for  a  season:  Enmity  and 
Fanatical  Superstition  can  unite  and  inspire  their  Legions. 
Whilst,  in  Beginnings,  the  true  who  have  faith  are  few  in 
number;  neither  without  faith  can  there  be  any  Host  of 
the  Just.  I  have  deliberately  written :  Our  hope  is  not  in 
Reformation,  but  in  Regeneration  beyond  death.  It  is  in 
Germany  alone  that  I  still  see  possibility  of  a  victorious 
solution,  without  discontinuity ;  and  present  world 's  anath- 
ema of  her  due  to  a  determination  to  extinguish  that 
possibility:  Sometimes  it  seems  too  much  to  hope,  that  so 
complete  a  consensus  will  be  unable  to  bear  down  all  oppo- 
sites  for  a  time.  I  can  assure  Germany  of  one  thing :  That 
it  is  only  by  the  amount  of  following  that  Consensus  may 
have  within  herself,  that  the  possibility  can  go  out  in  her. 
This  is  no  Doctrine  of  Despair.  It  is  the  admittance  of  a 
spirit  without  Hope,  as  without  Fear,  resolved  to  persist, 


312  ISSUES 

to  endure  to  the  end,  and  leave  the  Issue  to  Him  in  whose 
hands  it  alone  can  be. 

Of  territorial  changes,  it  were  mere  foolishness  to  fore- 
cast. The  British,  in  their  impious  way,  still  continue  to 
talk  of  the  'recovery'  by  France,  or  the  'restoration'  to 
France,  of  Alsace-Lorraine,  perfectly  well  knowing  that, 
if  this  be  achieved,  they  will  have  assisted  to  'restore'  re- 
covered stolen  goods  to  the  one  time  thief  of  them.  They 
know  this  quite  well,  but  you  need  not  speak  to  them  about 
it.  Truth  and  fact  may  be  as  they  may;  it  is  their  law 
shall  prevail.  Conformable  Russia  gives  promise  of  Auton- 
omy to  Poland ;  ready  enough,  if  she  can  keep  and  get  the 
substance,  to  hang  out  what  picture  will  please.  Utter 
collapse,  disintegration,  Partition  by  the  Fates,  and  as 
merited  an  erasure  from  national  existence  as  ever  was. — 
You  need  not  speak  of  it  to  the  British.  That  has  already 
been  done ;  we  see  with  what  effect.  They  have  ceased 
endeavour  to  deny  it :  Let  it  stand :  doubtless  that  fact  was 
so,  but  it  is  not  accordant  with  our  law,  and  we  prefer  to 
continue  by  our  lying  fancies;  it  was  only  after  consider- 
able thought,  that  we  brought  ourselves  to  realise  the  wick- 
edness, and  it  is  not  now  our  pleasure  to  believe  anything 
else!  This  of  'after  considerable  thought,'  by  the  by,  is 
like  that  other  well-known  formula,  '  after  very  careful  con- 
sideration': Since  this  should  have  been  given,  it  of  course 
was ;  let  the  verdict  and  the  promptitude  of  it  give  the  lie 
as  they  may.  The  British  never  gave  any  more  thought  to 
the  Polish  question  than  to  the  Silesian  or  the  present  Ger- 
man ;  their  verdicts  '  came  in  like  the  Atlantic  Tide  unan- 
imous, under  the  influence  of  the  Moon  itself. '  And  if  now 
some  new  godless  mockery  can  be  set  up,  no  matter  what  a 
mockery,  what  a  palpable,  and  mischief-working  farce,  how 
hideously  hollow  as  ever,  they  will  sing  its  praises ;  will  flat- 


ISSUES  313 

ter  themselves  they  have  restored  the  irrestorable,  be  thank- 
ful that  at  least  the  Image  of  their  godhead  has  been  once 
more  erected,  Invisible  Deity 's  worship  driven  back  a  little, 
and  the  reign  of  Old  Night  extended.  It  will  rejoice  their 
hearts  to  think  of  countries,  once  full  of  Teutonic  life, 
flourishing  in  the  sunlight,  or  which  might  have  come  to 
this,  being  swallowed  up,  or  retained,  in  the  belly  of  Rus- 
sian Darkness.  I  observe  they  do  not  sit  quite  still  under 
these  remarks.  A  certain  shuffle,  wriggle,  and  uneasiness 
noticeable.  They  would  protest  if  they  knew  how ;  and  the 
chief  object  of  the  promise  of  Autonomy  is  to  assuage  this 
uneasiness,  give  the  ill  deed  as  much  Presentability  as  pos- 
sible under  the  circumstances.  It  was  the  exigencies  of 
their  position  which  forced  them  to  this.  They  could  not 
save  their  own  skins,  wreak  the  vengeance  of  jealousy, 
which,  of  course,  is,  for  them,  only  another  way  of  saying 
serve  God,  without  making  compact  with  the  devil.  And 
better  it  were  half  the  world  were  desolated  than  he  should 
prosper, — meaning  another  and  confounding  the  two,  as 
their  wont  is. 

What  a  suggestion,  that  Belgium  should  become  part  of 
the  German  Empire !  It  were  the  fairest  fate  now  open  to 
her.  The  sole  thing  which  could  raise  a  doubt  in  me  of  the 
beneficence  of  this  fate  for  Belgium,  is  the  difference  of 
Eace.  But  the  great  difficulties,  which  necessarily  exist 
there,  could,  with  a  noble  wisdom,  be  overcome  entirely  in 
time ;  nor  do  I  believe  the  German  would  make  of  Belgium 
a  second  Ireland.  No  vital  nationality  either  has  been,  is, 
or  is  likely  to  be  in  modern  Belgium.  That  was  a  made-up 
State,  with  supplied  Kings  and  Constitution:  Irreconcila- 
bles  allowed  separate  existence  under  approved  forms. 
What  is  great  in  past  Belgian  history  belongs  to  the  time 
when  she  was  part  of  the  Netherlands,  and  sprang  from  that 
part  of  the  Race  which  is  allied  to  the  German.    For  her 


314  ISSUES 

to  become  an  integral  part  of  the  German  Empire  now, 
were  just  simply  rescue  from  the  hapless  condition  of  a 
Buffer  State ;  than  which  there  are  few  fates  more  hapless. 
The  doctrine  and  practice  of  maintaining  small  States  as 
Buffers  between  mighty  is  completely  damned ;  a  thing  the 
soul  of  every  just  man  abhors.  Reinstate  Belgium  in  a 
nominal  independence,  and  she  will  be  still  more  a  mere 
Buffer  than  she  was  before.  Not  love  for  Belgium  would 
ever  counsel  this, — and  it  never  was  love  for  Belgium  that 
inspired  British  condonments,  reluctant  Congo  protests, 
and  cocker  to  stand  firm  in  the  gap.  As  Grey  so  candidly 
expressed  it :  Had  you  been  as  far  off  as  Servia,  you  should 
have  been  pounded  in  a  mortar,  and  the  walls  of  a  jakes 
striped  with  the  pottage  before  we  would  have  stirred  a 
finger.  Now  all  the  world  sees  you  are  pounded  in  a  mortar. 
Your  fate  afflicts  us,  honestly,  since  it  was  for  us  alone  you 
suffered ;  and,  our  resolution  remaining  constant  that  the 
German  shall  not  have  that  bit  of  ground,  we  are  doubly 
determined  to  restore  you.  Then,  in  gratitude  for  all  the 
good  done,  you  will  fill  the  gap  again,  as  well  or  better  next 
time ;  for  the  pounding  and  the  restoration  taken  together 
will  have  so  made  you  our  debtor,  that  you  won 't  have  much 
will  of  your  own  left  in  the  matter.  The  German  offer  here 
was,  Let  live,  on  conditions  which  were  reasonable  in  the 
circumstances.  But  the  British  promptly  interfered,  say- 
ing: We  won't  believe  you.  For  form's  sake,  we  offer  you 
conditions  which  you  would  be  some  stranger  animal  than  a 
Goose  to  accept ;  but  our  spleens  would  forgive  us  never  if 
we  let  slip  such  an  opportunity  of  striking  at  your  hated 
power.  To  Belgium  they  said :  Die  you  for  us,  as  your  duty 
is,  and  we'll  resurrect  you  to  our  mind  after.  Stript  of 
Mendacity's  colourings,  such  are  the  facts.  Nervous  Brit- 
ish Politicians  argued,  If  Belgium  become  German,  now  or 
hereafter  that  country  would  be  too  formidable.    To  whom 


ISSUES  315 

one  answers  only  here,  If  she  do,  never  will  there  have  been 
a  clearer  case  of  those  who  dreaded  a  thing,  bringing  that 
thing  upon  them. 

German  Aggression!  War  for  Conquest!  Militarism! 
These  were  the  cries  which  Britain  raised,  to  the  drowning 
of  all  voice  of  Reason,  when  she  voluntarily  went  into  this, 
for  her  quite  extraneous  war.  And  ever  since  she  has  been 
egging  on  other  states,  Italy,  Greece,  etc.,  to  join  in  for  the 
sake  of  conquest.  Now's  your  chance  to  snatch  what  you 
have  a  mind  to.  You'll  never  have  such  another  oppor- 
tunity. For  God 's  sake,  make  the  most  of  it,  while  time  is. 
Aggression !  "War  for  Conquest !  Militarism !  it  would  ap- 
pear, are  only  'Infamous'  when  unpleasing  to  British  jeal- 
ousies and  cupidities,  'Holy'  when  pleasing  to  these.  Not 
that  I  suppose  their  Government  addresses  others,  when 
egging  them  on  to  such  enterprises.  Do  thus  and  thus  for 
the  love  of  God.  No,  it  is  only  when  explaining  the  matter 
to  their  own  People  that  they  say,  you  see  how  it  was  all 
done  for  the  love  of  God.  Don't  we  just!  reply  they; 
thank  God  and  you  for  so  safe-guarding  our  interests,  and 
making  paths  to  our  will.  You  know  both  our  real  desires 
and  our  susceptibilities  of  conscience  as  no  other  has  ever 
done ;  find  ways  for  satisfying  the  first  with  a  skill  beyond 
praise,  whilst  you  calm  the  fears  of  the  second,  nay,  con- 
vert these  into  sacred  assurances,  with  an  art  which  is 
matchless.  You  are  clearly  the  true  gifted  of  heaven,  for  it 
is  evident  to  us  when,  how,  why,  and  where  you  lie;  that 
your  own  souls  believe  what  you  preach  even  as  ours  do 
now. — My  friends,  I  know  that  this  egging  on  of  outside 
parties,  this  fomenting  of  discords  which  may  prove  trou- 
blesome to  a  foe,  is  always  done ;  that  the  right  and  wrong 
of  it  is  a  bottomless  sort  of  question ;  neither,  however  much 
I  detest  much  in  it,  am  I  superstitious  on  the  subject.  It 
is  the  face  put  on  it  that  I  cannot  away  with ;  this  sancti- 


316  ISSUES 

monious  pretence  of  all-righteousness,  with  such  actualities 
glaring  through  the  Transparencies,  is  the  thing  one  utterly 
revolts  from,  abhors  as  more  damned  than  the  foulest  lust 
which  goes  openly  to  work.  Cromwell  fomented  discord,  so 
did  Friedrich,  so  does  Kaiser  Wilhelm,  so  probably,  at  one 
time  or  another,  did  every  Just  Statesman  in  his  day.  You 
may  wish  they  had  not,  if  you  think  yourself  holy  enough. 
The  thing  to  observe  is,  that  the  Cromwell  remained  Crom- 
well, Friedrich  Friedrich,  and  Belleisle  Belleisle,  Asquith 
&  Co.  Asquith  &  Co. — ;  neither  is  there  any  bridging  of  the 
gulf  between. 

One  of  the  mournfulest  things  is  the  way  in  which  other 
nations  copy  this  British  Mendacity.  There  is  the  way  to 
glory,  think  they  nearly  all,  and  emulously  follow  suit. 
Entente  is  becoming  the  regular  name  for  nations  which 
would  subtly  reach  their  private  ends,  with  the  blessing  of 
humanity  on  their  disinterested  loving  kindness  for  each 
other,  and  dove-like  intentions  to  third  parties,  to  work 
under.  Quite  a  beatific  vision  to  them  of  the  proper  way 
of  going  about  it.  To  some  of  us,  the  outcome  has  given 
such  a  surfeit  of  the  name  as  we  shall  not  soon  recover 
from,  but  then  we  abominated  the  thing  from  the  day  of  its 
generation;  whilst  to  them  it  is  the  prosperous  outcome 
which  almost  excels  belief,  redoubles  zeal  to  appropriate  the 
British  Evangel.  When  will  the  spell  of  that  be  broken; 
whither  it  verily  leads  seen,  and  nations,  horror-struck, 
recoil ;  some  Veracious  Examplar  be  in  first  rank,  lesser 
Peoples  take  after  it? 

Carlyle  asked,  of  the  Austrian  Succession  War,  Who  was 

to  blame  for  it?     And  answered  France:     'That  is  the 

notable  point  in  regard  to  this  War :  That  France  is  to  be 

called  the  author  of  it,  who,  alone  of  all  the  parties,  had 

'no  business  there  whatever.  .  .  .  We  have  often  said,  the 

'Spanish-English  War  was  itself  likely  to  have  kindled 


ISSUES  317 

'Europe;  and  again  Friedreich's  Silesian  War  was  itself 
'likely, — France  being  nearly  sure  to  interfere.  But  if 
'both  these  "Wars  were  necessary  ones,  and  if  France  inter- 
'fered  in  either  of  them  on  the  wrong  side,  the  blame  will 
'be  to  France,  not  to  the  necessary  "Wars.  France  could 
'in  no  way  have  interfered  in  a  more  barefacedly  unjust 
'and  gratuitous  manner  than  she  did;  nor,  on  any  terms, 
'have  so  palpably  made  herself  the  author  of  the  conflagra- 
'tion  of  deliriums  that  ensued  for  above  Twenty  years 
'henceforth,  (Friedrich.  Bk.:  12.  Chap.:  11).  Now,  with  the 
exception  that  you  have  to  couple  Britain  with  France  (and 
she  the  worse  of  the  pair)  this  is  as  true  of  to-day's  War. 
It  may  well  be  that  Balkan  affairs,  Austro-Russian,  Russo- 
German,  disagreements  were  ground  for  wars ;  but  France 
had  absolutely  no  sort  of  call  to  interfere,  and  certainly 
did  not  interfere  on  the  right  side,  or  with  any  care  at  all 
of  the  Justice  of  the  dispute.  Whilst  Britain  founded  her 
pretended  right  to  interfere  on  the  preconcluded  assump- 
tion that  France  had  the  right  to  interfere.  It  is  amaz- 
ing how  these  pleas  could  pass,  with  outsiders,  at 
least,  such  as  America.  Soul-blinding  Superstition  is  the 
only  explanation.  France  again  and  again  proclaimed  that 
she  would  not  remain  Neutral  in  a  quarrel  which  was  no 
concern  of  hers ;  yet  the  world  has  answered,  Then  damned 
is  Germany,  since  she  would  not  hold  her  hand  in  face  of 
such  a  threat ;  instead  of  the  clear  truth,  Then  damned  are 
you,  France,  for  not  remaining  neutral.  And  doubly 
damned  are  you,  Britain,  for  giving  France  cover  whilst  she 
made  her  threats,  then  joining  in,  in  pretence  of  justice, 
because  your  united  threats  proved  unavailing.  Wars  are 
very  apt  to  kindle  other  wars ;  but,  if  they  do,  the  blame  of 
the  spread  lies  on  those  who  caused  the  spread,  not  upon 
those  who  made  the  necessary  wars.  And,  in  this  present 
instance,  the  blame  of  all  the  war  in  the  West  of  Europe 


318  ISSUES 

lies  wholly  upon  France  and  Britain;  neither  of  which 
nations- had  any  title  whatever  to  interfere  in  the  Eastern, 
which  were  unavoidable.  Their  own  ambitions,  vanities, 
cupidities,  jealousies  and  enmities,  and  nothing  else,  led 
France  and  Britain  in,  caused  them  to  assure  the  Russ 
beforehand  he  should  have  their  support:  By  that  assur- 
ance, they  are  largely,  perhaps  mainly,  guilty  of  the  war  in 
the  East  too ;  just  as  Britain,  by  her  secret  cover  of  France, 
is  as  much  or  more  guilty  of  the  war  West  as  France  her- 
self. Britain's  jealous  dread  of  Germany  was  the  Mother 
in  whose  warmth  the  whole  accursed  policy  was  hatched, 
even  as  it  is  her  might  which  lends  strength  and  sinew  to  the 
outrage.  No  nation  ought  to  withhold  its  hand  from  a 
necessary  war  because  others  are  too  malicious  or  inflam- 
mable to  keep  out.  If  they  join  in,  it  is  their  vice  which 
made  them  do  so,  and  the  sin  is  on  their  own  heads.  Grey 's 
Concert  pleadings  are  an  unspeakable  morass.  But  of  all 
this  I  have  written  enough. 

When  the  French  ate  their  Covenant  to  support  Prag- 
matic Sanction,  they  put  forth  the  excuse,  Salvo  jure  tertii, 
Saving  the  rights  of  Third  Parties.  The  manner  of  the 
thing  is  a  little  different  to-day.  Experience  teaches :  and 
Subtlety  will  do  a  deeper  stroke.  That  of  bringing  out 
Covenants  at  the  proper  moment,  and  swearing  that  you 
are,  in  your  soul  and  conscience,  bound  to  keep  them  in 
the  teeth  of  heaven.  But  the  substance  is  much  the  same. 
It  is  for  the  Rights  of  Third  Parties  that  each  of  the  Allies 
professes  to  be  fighting :  they  are  all  too  godly  to  fight  for 
their  own.  Greece  must  lick  her  old  wounds,  be  careful  of 
her  health, — and  fulfil  her  treaty  obligations.  What  are 
they?  Whisht!  The  time's  not  ripe  to  tell.  Perchance, 
she  scarce  knows  herself  till  it  be.  Give  France  her  due,  she 
made  no  secret  of  those  she  had  made;  and,  of  course,  it 
was  a  plain  point  of  honour  and  modesty  to  breathe  no 


ISSUES  319 

whisper  of  those  granted  to  her.  'Tis  an  excellent  device, 
that  of  the  Rights  of  Third  Parties.  By  means  of  it  you 
can  open  a  gate  anywhere  and  anywhen  you  have  a  mind ; 
through  which  the  biggest  teams  on  the  highway  (whole 
British  Empire)  can  drive  freely,  and  the  paltriest  cadger's 
ass  (Jap,  Portugal)  can  step  in  for  a  bellyful?  Greece  has 
not  risen  at  the  bait  of  Smyrna,  but  it  is  hoped  she  yet  will 
rise  to  that,  on  some  daintier.  No  cadger's  ass  need  lack 
a  bellyful,  while  the  Master  drives  such  a  team  and  pockets 
Colonies  galore. 

These  are  the  sort  of  things  which  Britain  cherishes  to- 
day, some  of  the  Issues  she  hopes  for.  '  Restoration '  to  the 
thief  of  goods  he  had  to  yield  back  to  the  true  owner.  Re- 
establishment  (in  name)  of  nations  which  Providence  sup- 
pressed as  totally  unworthy.  Wider  realm  to  Barbaric 
Nescience,  narrower  to  Veracious  Manhood.  Maintenance 
of  Buffer  States,  to  keep  whom  she  dreads  at  the  greater 
distance  from  her  shores.  And  every  that  has  a  team  to 
drive  to  take  what  he  can  get,  each  cadger's  ass  in  for  a 
bellyful.  Things  all  hideous  in  themselves,  and  rendered  a 
hundred  times  the  more  so  by  the  horrible  Mendacity  in 
which  they  are  gone  about  by  Britain.  Moreover,  the  most 
hopeless  fact  for  Britain  is,  that  it  is  the  Better  Intellects  in 
her  which  have  led  her  into  this  war,  now  lead  her  in  it. 
Had  it  been  the  Effete,  one  would  have  thought  much  less 
of  it;  neither  would  they  have  expended  all  energies  to 
win.  That  it  should  be  these  Lloyd  Georges,  Churchills, 
Asquiths,  there  is  the  greatest  sin  and  misery.  This  is  not 
what  Carlyle  spoke  of  as  probable;  till  quite  recently,  no 
man  could  have  prophesied  it,  though  it  is  easy  now  to  see 
it  perfectly  accordant,  a  clear  sequel.  That,  instead  of 
Impotence  and  Moulder,  continued  slow  Rot,  and  Clash  of 
Factions,  we  should  see  the  Potent,  Energetic,  the  brilliant 
in  Gift  and  Faculty,  who  had  in  so  much  seized  the  Gospel 


320  ISSUES 

of  the  New,  plunge  our  nation  into  Crime,  and  consummate 
in  a  few  years  iniquities  we  expected  would  maunder  on 
noteless  an  indefinite  time.  If  they  rejected  the  Deeper, 
the  Eternal,  persisted  in  the  Bedlam  Faiths  and  so  com- 
pounded with  Mendacity  that  their  own  souls  became  as 
completely  mendacious,  it  was  inevitable.  The  bitterest  of 
the  Effete  could  not  then  have  half  their  enmity  toward 
the  Living  True ;  and,  in  them,  the  activity,  will  and  daring 
to  do  as  their  soul's  perversion  prompted.  The  Event  ever 
comes  upon  us  with  something  of  surprise,  and  the  most 
watchful  have  to  reproach  themselves,  Why  were  we  not 
more  awake ! 

It  is  upon  such  few  of  the  innumerable  Things  at  Issue 
as  it  behooves  me  to  speak  of,  that  the  preceding  chapter  is 
written.  I  hope  no  reader  is  so  foolish  as  to  imagine  that, 
because  a  thing  is  at  issue  in  this  war,  therefore,  it  is  going 
to  be  finally  decided  by  the  war's  result.  Some  will  be, 
some  will  not,  hardly  any  that  we  have  seen  looking  at  to- 
gether are  likely  to  be  so  at  all ;  and  how  far  a  decision  will 
be  advanced  toward  or  receded  from,  in  regard  to  any  of 
these  latter,  there  is  yet  no  know. 

Britain  or  Germany?  is  one  of  the  things  you  can  with 
greatest  certainty  know  to  have  been  put  to  trial;  be  it  in 
preliminary  skirmish  or  now  mortal — I  can't  say  duel. 
That  lawsuit  has  been  openly  commenced :  How  long  it  will 
last  before  the  final  verdict  is  arrived  at,  God  only  knows. 
Britain  gratuitously  entered  into  this  Arbitrament ;  and  in 
the  manner  in  which  she  has  done  so  the  finger  of  Fate 
writes  visibly.  A  great  and  long  fully  established  nation, 
secure  in  immense  possession,  a  mighty  Empire  of  inex- 
haustible resource,  which  if  true  to  itself,  veracious,  pious, 
working  well  to-day  for  worthy  things,  could,  most  com- 
posedly have  said,  Come  on  then,  to  All  and  Sundry  who 
wished  to  try  its  strength,  observes  another  kindred  nation 


ISSUES  321 

growing  wholesomely,  in  the  evident  blessing  of  heaven,  a 
light  centre  daily  conquering  somewhat  from  the  powers  of 
darkness  and  spreading  the  realm  of  intelligence;  refuses 
that  nation  all  welcome,  flouts  its  offers,  eyes  its  increase 
with  jealous  fear;  truckles  for  favour  with  that  nation's 
foes,  smiles  sweetly  on  whom  it  hopes  but  half  its  friends ; 
shows  those  they  need  not  fear,  whispers  turncoats  need 
only  name  their  fee ;  makes  compact  secretly  with  these,  to 
protect  itself,  lends  cover  to  their  mischief -working  wills; 
and,  when  those  wills  have  brought  the  Opportunity  it 
wrought  for,  yet  swears  it  never  wanted,  leaps,  cat  o  'moun- 
tainwise,  upon  that  nation's  throat.  Its  Ministers  pro- 
claiming too,  It  was  all  for  the  love  of  God  that  we  had  to 
do  thus  to  save  your  skins.  One  last  time  I  call  your  atten- 
tion to  this.  Look  at  the  Fact,  and  not  at  the  colours  put  on 
it, — though,  in  truth,  those  colours  are  part  of  the  fact, 
reveal  it  in  a  way  they  were  never  meant  to ;  they  are  very 
well  worth  your  study  so.  Is  it  not  fateful,  more  ominous 
than  anything  in  War  itself  can  be  ?  Does  it  not  give  a  pre- 
conclusion  which  almost  renders  insignificant  any  conclu- 
sion reached  in  the  war  ?  So  far  as  Britain  is  concerned,  it 
undoubtedly  does.  What  a  hollowness  is  there  exposed! 
what  an  evilness  of  spirit!  As  if  the  British  had  become 
conscious  of  their  state,  of  their  departure  from  integrity 
and  sequent  need  to  prop  themselves  by  every  means  attain- 
able. As  if  they  could  no  longer  hope  to  disguise  from 
themselves  or  the  world  their  weakness  or  their  dread. 
Those  ministers  shouted  from  the  housetops;  without  the 
aid  of  others,  Britain  dare  not  hope  to  live :  All  differences 
must  be  sunk  to  damn  the  German.  And  have  proved  that 
this  was  verily  their  faith  by  their  deeds.  Then  such  a 
seeking,  such  an  acquiring  of  aid,  and  such  a  process  of  be- 
damning.  It  is  the  thousand  times  repeated  story :  By  the 
cunning  of  our  will  and  the  strength  of  our  hands,  we  will 


322  ISSUES 

defeat  the  Lord.  Put  aside  the  rest,  look  directly  at  this 
Brito-German  Arbitrament,  and,  if  you  cannot  see,  in  Brit- 
ain 's  entry  into  it  all  the  elements  which  have  ever  been  in 
Old  Iniquity  seeking  to  suppress  New  Power,  you  have  not 
much  vision,  much  understanding  of  the  Heart  of  Man  or  of 
his  History  on  this  Planet. 

"What  can  the  Issue  of  this  be  for  Britain  ?  If  her  Pack 
win,  what  manner  of  further  Lease  of  Power,  of  continued 
existence  as  a  Nation  of  Men,  is  she  going  to  gain  so  ?  There 
may  be  many  other  elements  in  Britain ;  but,  unless  Britons 
of  another  quality  can  effectively  say  and  prove  by  their 
very  counter  deeds  that  their  nation  has  been  most  foully 
belied  by  those  who  have  wrought  and  conducted  this  war, 
there  is  no  more  doubt  of  the  Issue  for  Britain,  whichever 
way  the  immediate  victory  go,  than  of  the  fall  of  a  stone. 
Asquith  &  Co.  have  not  the  slightest  understanding  of  such 
things ;  Churchill 's  trepidations  are  the  nearest  approach  to 
an  inkling  of  them  I  have  met  with  there.  In  him,  one  could 
almost  believe  the  existence  of  an  actual,  veridical,  inward 
impression  that,  if,  with  all  the  weight  of  armament  and 
Combination — not  to  speak  of  blackballing — he,  with  others, 
has  been  zealous  to  prepare,  Britain  cannot  overwhelm  Ger- 
many, then  she  really  will  have  been  fighting  against  the 
Lord  all  along  in  the  endeavour  to.  Let  us  be  thankful  for 
small  mercies;  you  will  not  be  able  to  find  (or  imagine) 
even  this  much  in  any  of  the  others ;  and  for  my  part,  I  dare 
not  say  our  nation  has  been  belied  by  them.  Neither  do  I 
know,  in  the  least,  what  the  strength  of  the  minority,  which 
abhors  this  war,  and  all  that  brought  it,  may  be.  For  Ger- 
many, one  cannot  tell  what  the  Issue  will  be.  The  most  just 
on  earth  may  be  destroyed  on  earth.  And,  if  not,  for  all 
his  further  course,  it  depends  on  what  strength  and  wisdom 
really  is  in  him :    Never  well  knowable  till  proven. 

It  is  strange  that  the  world  is  more  confident  that  the 


ISSUES  323 

further  triumph  of  Democracy  (with  Russia  to  help  it  tri- 
umph) or  its  imperilment,  is  a  thing  At-Issue  than  that  al- 
most anything  else  is,  whilst  I  am  most  doubtful  of  that,  in 
a  way,  and  in  a  way  not  doubtful  either.  We  mean  differ- 
ent things,  the  World  and  I ;  and,  if  the  comparison  afflict 
you,  you  can  remember  Tristram  Shandy 's  reflection  on  the 
matter.  At  least  the  world  fancies  it  means  a  different 
thing ;  but,  of  course,  that  is  a  delusion  on  its  part,  and  yet 
again  it  is  not.  The  World  means  that  it  believes  Democ- 
racy to  be  in  danger  of  being  over-ridden  by  what  it  calls 
'  Militarism ' ;  whilst  I  only  hope  that  it  may  be  in  the  way 
of  getting  honourably  wedded  to  what  can  husband  its 
priceless  virtues  and  control  its  whims  a  little.  The  World 
shrieks  at  such  a  notion,  prefers  Union  Libre  in  all  things. 
And  thus  you  may  see  how  it  does  and  does  not  mean  the 
same  thing.  The  courtship  is  like  to  be  long,  and  rough  at 
the  commencement ;  one  is  only  too  thankful  to  see  it  begun, 
if  begun  it  in  verity  be.  No  hardy  Militant  Wooer  will 
lightly  take  a  negative ;  but  will  himself  grow  in  grace ;  and 
that  wedding  be  accomplished  in  the  time  appointed. 

My  own  hope  that  such  a  thing  is  At  Issue  grows  more 
and  more  toward  assurance  that  it  is ;  that  this  unexampled 
animosity  toward  the  One  at  bay,  springs  largely  from  the 
fact  that  it  is,  is  a  true  instinct  of  Protagonist  in  the  field. 
And,  certainly,  this  World-sympathy  with  the  Allies  is 
almost  entirely  due  to  the  real  or  supposed  imperilment  of 
Democracy.  Especially  is  this  the  case  with  America. 
Doubtless  the  blood-tie  between  American  and  Briton  comes 
first  there,  in  a  sense ;  but  this  would  have  been  quite  inade- 
quate to  excite  such  enthusiasm  for  that  Blessed  Trinity  of 
an  Entente  as  America  exhibits.  It  is  the  notion  that  the 
Allies  (Russia  among  them,  I  don't  let  you  forget  it)  are 
fighting  for  Democratical  Principles  against  German — Des- 
potism, I  suppose  I  must  write,  however  absurdly,  that  so 


324  ISSUES 

fills  the  American  with  zeal,  and  amazingly  blinds  him. 
Except  for  this,  he  would  have  coolly  considered  the  matter 
first,  I  think,  instead  of  blazing  off  into  such  a  spontaneous 
concurrence  as  almost  outran  the  Briton  himself.    One,  set 
upon  by  half  the  world  might,  at  the  outset,  I  should  have 
thought,  have  rendered  America  Undisposed  to  add  to  his 
burden,  unite  in  wild  anathema;  if  she  did  not  feel  called 
upon  to  hasten  to  his  aid — which  I  have  in  no  wise  ever  said 
she  ought — might  have  given  her  leisure  to  hear  both  sides 
deliberately.     Democracy,  0  my  Beloved  Brothers  of  the 
Stars  and  Stripes!     Is  not  the  soul  of  all  good  in  that 
Equal  Justice  between  man  and  man?    Has  this  been  less 
established  in  Germany  than  in  America  or  Britain  ?    And 
when  has  it  ever  been  seen  in  France  or  Russia?    If  you, 
too,  become  the  slave  of  Names,  eyeless  for  Substance,  bless 
all  who  profess  like  Article,  and  ban  who  can  find  his  way 
to  heaven  without  subscribing  to  it!    There  has  long  been 
a  genuine,  unspoken  Entente  between  America  and  Britain; 
if  a  Triple  were  necessary,  might  not  Germany  with  these, 
have  made  a  better  than  the  present  proclaimed?    And  is 
that  subtle  and  so  loudly  proclaimed  Entente  of  similar 
spirit  at  all?    Is  it  Equal  Justice  between  man  and  man, 
nation  and  nation,  that  British  jealousy,  French  envy  and 
Russian  greed  is  endeavouring  to  enforce  against  the  Ger- 
man this  instant?     Bejesuited  Czardom,  Tricky  Bureau- 
cracy, Mock  King  and  Artists,  are  lovelier  in  your  eyes  than 
Hohenzollern  Kaiser,  worthy  Peerage,  and  free  People? 
The  Names,  Kaiser,  Peerage,  are  such  red  rags  to  you,  that 
you  cannot  look  at  Substance,  will  cheer  on  any  bison  herd 
which  aims  to  tread  their  wearers  in  the  mire  ?    If  it  be  so, 
it  is  a  pity  that  it  should  be.    British  acceptance  of  White 
Paper  'Case'  was  a  foregone  conclusion;  but  I  should  not 
have  said  that  that  particular  damned  stuff  was  suited  to 
your  digestion.    It  is  this  other  thing,  this  soul-blinding  Su- 


ISSUES  325 

perstition,  which  has  led  you  to  give  it  and  so  much  else, 
credence.  In  the  name  of  Truth  and  Equity,  open  your 
eyes  and  look  at  it,  at  the  actual  Substance  of  the  Whole 
dispute. 

Mendacity  and  Veracity  are  At  Issue  in  this  war.  And 
that  is  the  central  essence,  the  supremely  important  thing, 
whereof  all  else  is  but  various  manifestation.  Grant  the 
German  guilty  of  everything  charged  against  him,  he  would 
be  a  very  sinful  creature,  such  a  monster  as  never  was, — 
indeed,  I  believe  you,  such  a  monster  as  never  was,  except 
in  dreams, — yet  he  still  were  not  mendacious.  He  is  not 
even  charged  with  being  so.  However  many  lies  may  be 
triumphantly  nailed  on  the  counter  against  him — chiefly  by 
the  coiners — there  is  no  breath  of  this  charge.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  burden  of  the  whole  indictment  sounds  to  some 
ears  too  like,  Damn  you,  you're  not.  Whereas  the  British 
are  utterly  mendacious ;  and  have  infected  the  whole  with 
that  abominable  leaven,  which  it  were  a  divine  mercy  to  see 
their  and  the  world's  confidence  in  shaken  by  whomsoever. 

All  human  interest  in  this  War  centres  in  the  German  or 
nowhere.  If  it  be  a  pitting  of  Mendacity  against  Ambi- 
tion's Lusts,  then  it  is  just  an  enormous  Suicidal  Zero. 
If  a  Veracious  Manhood  is  once  more  in  death-wrestle  with 
the  Devil's  Legions,  then,  the  highest  interests  of  Man  are 
again  at  stake. 

Concerning  the  effect  of  the  War's  result  upon  the  Things 
at  Issue,  but  a  word. 

With  Germany  visibly  victorious,  Mendacity's  spell  on 
the  world  were  probably  broken  at  once,  though  Mendacity 
itself  a  long  way  from  extirpated ;  and,  similarly  it  would 
probably  rapidly  become  apparent  that  Democracy  is  not 
the  complete  Gospel  of  Man's  Welfare  for  all  time.  This 
hideous  mendaciousness  of  soul,  in  which  the  British  are 


326  ISSUES 

sodden,  which  is  the  source  of  all  their  misdeed,  is  a  curse 
utter  on  the  world,  and  on  themselves  first  and  foremost. 
Can  they  never  come  out  of  it,  then?  It,  one  does  pray, 
may  be  exorcised,  utterly  expelled.  War  upon  it  without 
mercy  wherever  you  meet  it,  in  yourselves  or  in  others,  all 
ye  crave  of  all  nations.  No  cost  is  too  great  to  gain  that 
exorcism.  If  total  defeat  in  this  war  put  the  British  in  the 
way  of  gaining  it,  then  such  defeat  were  the  purest  mercy 
that  could  be  granted  to  them.  But  Democracy  is  not  going 
to  be  extirpated ;  Democracy  need  not  have  the  smallest  mis- 
giving that  any  'mailed  fist'  can  destroy  her.  What  is 
true  in  Democracy,  is  ours  once  and  for  always,  it  can  never 
again  be  lost  to  mankind.  And,  just  as  certainly  as  this  is 
true,  is  it  true  that  Democracy  is  not  the  Complete  Gospel ; 
that  those  who  insist  she  is  our  one  salvation,  subscribe  to 
Article,  and  make  a  Superstition  of  her  worship,  excom- 
municating all  who  will  not  bow  the  knee  to  their  Idol,  are 
enemies  to  Human  Progress.  Enemies  so  inspired  them- 
selves with  a  spirit  allied  to  the  Tyrant's  and  the  Jesuit's, 
that  it  is  little  wonder  they  have  leagued  with  these  to  damn 
whom  their  fanaticism  names  Infidel.  Democracy  has  got 
to  be  subdued  to  the  quality  of  her  Lord.  And,  truly,  Sirs, 
when  he  once  verily  appears,  and  she  comes  to  see,  instead 
of  mis-see  him  a  little,  I  think  the  courtship  will  go  forward 
in  another  fashion  than  the  stormy  overtures  we  witness 
may  seem  to  give  promise  of. 

With  anything  like  a  draw,  Germany  simply  not  de- 
feated, her  future  ought  to  be  equally  assured ;  and  much 
the  same  effects  follow  later.  With  the  Combination  suc- 
cessful, to  any  high  degree,  just  the  further  indefinite  pro- 
longing of  what  was  before  the  war.  The  life's  battle  of 
the  noble  made  more  difficult  than  ever,  their  victory  fur- 
ther removed.  Further  removed;  but,  if  they  continue 
present,  in  a  constant  persistence,  entirely  assured.    Men- 


ISSUES  327 

dacity  is  at  all  moments  growing  weaker,  rotting  away: 
Veracity  stands  to  increase.  A  clear  Religious  Faith  and 
august  Manhood,  a  State  founded  on  Reverence  of  Human 
"Worth,  must  again  evolve.  In  all  such  regards,  this  huge 
War  is  no  more  than  an  Episode,  the  intrinsic  importance 
of  which  no  man  can  at  present  in  the  least  measure. 

Finally,  let  us  not  only  remember  that  there  are  innumer- 
able other  Issues,  besides  these  few  we  have  touched  upon, 
but  also,  confess  from  our  hearts,  that  there  are  deeper 
Causes  and  higher  Issues  than  any  we  can  articulately 
speak  of,  or  have  even  the  faintest  perception  of.  Causes 
and  Issues,  which,  even  without  invalidating  the  truth  of 
our  perceptions  of  what  we  do  perceive,  may  well  so  wholly 
transcend  all  we  know  as  to  make  this  of  small  weight  in 
the  determination.  The  true  Real  Causes  are  known  to  God 
alone,  and  the  Issues  are  with  Him  alone.  0  troubled  souls, 
who  look  on  things,  yea,  live  in  the  midst  of  things,  whereat 
the  imaginations  of  all  mortal  are  apt  to  run  wild,  that 
Power  which  created  us,  endowed  us  with  Intellect,  Moral 
Emotion,  is — not  less  endowed  with  these:  Our  tenderest 
pity,  our  truest  love,  and  noblest  sympathy,  our  Justice  at 
its  justest, — What  are  they  to  those  of  Him  whose  path  is 
in  the  Great  Deep  for  evermore  ? 

•  •  • 

Conclusion 

To  be  written,  if  at  all,  after  the  War  is  over. 


SUMMARIES 


SUMMARIES 


PROEM 


The  war  is  in  defiance  of  Carlyle's  teaching.  Modern 
Hun !  Carlyle  's  testimony  to  Germany.  Notion  of  Democ- 
racy versus  Autocracy,  1-4;  Solidarity  of  Empire. 
Churchill  notions.  Proclamation  of  Magnitude,  5-8; 
Rights  instinctive  and  intelligent.  Solidarities,  good  and 
bad.    Peace?  9-11. 

I.      CONCERT   OP  EUROPE 

Belief  in  Concert  as  a  sacred  thing.  Sacred  Concert! 
13-15.  The  Kaunitz  text.  Conclaves  of  the  Powerful,  and 
Courts  of  Arbitration  convened  for — peace  among  the 
Arbiters!  15-18.  Honest  Conferences?  Mere  grandiose 
disposers.  And  all  for  Peace's  sake.  What  answer  give 
the  heavens  to  this  ?  18-21. 

H.      OSTENSIBLE   CAUSES 

Preliminary,  25-28;  Austro-Servian :  Britain  on,  28-31; 
ditto  Germany  on,  31-33 ;  ditto  Russia  on  (Russian  inter- 
vention), 33-34;  German  intervention,  34-36;  France,  36; 
Pleadings  for  peace  between  Austria  and  Russia,  36-37; 
ditto  that  Germany  should  not  support  Austria.  Menace? 
37-42;  French  intervention;  also,   eleventh  hour  Treble, 

331 


332 


SUMMARIES 


42-43;  Sincerity  (?)  of  British  wish  war  should  remain  in 
East,  44-45;  British  Intervention:  Grey's  offer  no  future 
hostility,  45-47;  The  ''infamous"  German  "Bid,"  47-51; 
Figment  of  Free  Hand,  51-53 ;  Belgian  Neutrality.  Cham- 
pionship of,  53-55;  Sum  up,  55. 

HI.      BALANCE   OF   POWER 

Balance  of  Power  as  actual  aim:  As  a  Nation:  Carlyle 
on,  57-63;  Unjust  Encroachments  and  Precautions 
against,  Natural  Growth  and  Jealous  Forbiddal  of  it,  In 
general,  63-67;  In  present  case,  67-73. 


IV.      SYSTEMS  OP   ALLIANCES 

1.  Systems  of  Alliances    .... 

2.  Alliances  as  Engagements  generally,  etc. 

3.  Distinction  of  Alliances  and  Conspiracies 

4.  Alliances  are  by  Elective  Affinities,  etc. 

5.  Each  of  the  Alliances  in  Present  Case 


77-81 
81-85 
86-87 
87-91 
91-95 


V.      THE   COMBINATION  AGAINST   GERMANY 

1.  Magnitude  of  the   Combine.     Overwhelming 

Odds,  etc 99-103 

2.  Combination's  own  account  of  itself:  Its'  true 

character.     It  is  directly  descended  from 

prior  Combinations  .  ....     103-116 

3.  What  evidence  does  character  of  this  Combina- 

tion afford  of  character  of  the  ONE  com- 
bined against? 116-117 

4.  Problem  before  Germany  is  essentially  one  of 

defence,  not  conquest        ....     117-120 

5.  Alone  against  the  world 120-121 


SUMMAKIES  333 

VI.   REAL     CAUSES 

Preliminary 

Of  Ostensible  and  Real  Causes,  with  a  word  on  Actual 
Aims,  125-127;  Wars  of  Lust  and  through  Enmity,  127-< 
129;  This  War  one  of  Enmity,  129-131. 

1.    Trial  of  Strength 

The  primitive  which  of  us  two  is  the  stronger?  Spirit 
of  the  actual  fighters,  etc.,  131-133;  Germany  or  Britain? 
133-134;  World  supremacy?  For  the  primitive,  condi- 
tions of  combat  must  be  fair,  present  are  not,  135-136; 
Germany's  increasing  power:  If  by  Britain  eyed  with  jeal- 
ousy, War  inevitable,  137;  Fact  of  increase,  137-138; 
Charges  of  Aggression:  Their  worthlessness,  138-141; 
Present  anti- Germanism  repeats  Past,  142-144;  British 
humour  toward  German,  144-146;  German  toward  Brit- 
ain, 146-147;  ditto,  ditto,  Kaiser  and  British,  147-148; 
German  and  British  desires  for  peace,  views  of  inevitability 
of  war  and  preparations  for  it,  148-152 ;  British  Ignorance 
of  Germany :  Political  Ignorance,  past  and  present,  152-155 ; 
Our  Writers  first  in  Blame,  Literature  as  eye,  Our  Writers : 
their  salute  of  Teneriffe  a  sidle  by,  What  they  have  taught 
of  Germany,  But  what  have  they  known  ?  155-158 ;  British 
sympathy  with  France  in  1870,  Acme  of  Trial  by  Strength, 
158 ;  No  simple,  primitive,  ever  possible,  only  this  very  com- 
pound, 158-159. 

la.    Militarism 

Militarism,  159 ;  Conquering  Hordes,  Likenings  of  Kaiser 
to  Napoleon,  160 ;  Genuine  Military  Powers,  160-162 ;  Ger- 


334  SUMMARIES 

many's  army  a  necessity  of  existence  to  her,  and  nobly 
used  hitherto,  162-163;  Military  Power  as  a  menace  to 
Democracy,  Its  need  to  whoever  should  cope  with  Democ- 
racy, Church  Militant,  163-166;  Anarchies  incurable  by 
force  but  force  used  in  their  cure,  Neutralising  antidotes, 
166 ;  Word  on  alleged  German  Atrocities,  166-170 ;  Defini- 
tion of  the  "  Ism, "  170. 

2.    Democracy  Versus  Autocracy 

Is  the  war  a  struggle  for  supremacy  between  these  ?  171 ; 
British  notions  of  Autocracy,  171-172 ;  Ditto  of  Democracy, 
Fixed  Ideas,  172-175;  Meaning  of  Autocracy  in  human 
speech:  its  preferability  sans  all  fanaticisms  for  it,  175- 
176;  Ditto  of  Democracy,  Officers  to  be  chosen  from  all 
ranks,  176-177;  Carlyle  on  Democracy  and  Autocracy, 
Word  on  Sir  E.  T.  Cook  again,  177-179;  Modern  Democ- 
racy born  of  revolt  against  Bankrupt  Imposture:  there 
true,  As  assertive  faith,  a  madness  and  diabolism,  The  two 
halves  of  World-drama,  German  race  to  be  Protagonist  in 
second,  harder  half,  180-182;  Sovereignty,  actual  and 
veracious,  exists  in  Germany  alone,  What  is  its  character? 
182-183. 

2a.     German  Kaiser:  British  King 

Sovereignty  which  can  live  and  grow  must  be  able  to 
cope  with  Democracy,  183-184;  Kaiser  sole  real  amid  the 
nominal,  184-186;  rage  at  him  because  real.  Democracy's 
vicious  forbiddal  of  sovereignty.  Private  antipathies  of 
nominal  to  real,  186-188 ;  of  the  Hohenzollern  Race :  Pub- 
lic 's  conduct  to  authors.  Lying  prophet's  conception  of 
the  Hohenzollerns,  188-189 ;  Long  duration  of  Race.  Noth- 
ing magical  has  gathered  round  it.    Never  lived  in  a  vain 


SUMMARIES  335 

show.  Stable  growth.  Constantly  equal  to  present  time. 
Simplicity  and  veracity.  Not  forgotten  they  are  stewards, 
or  Whose,  189-191 ;  Of  Kaiser  Wilhelm  II :  Have  not  at- 
tempted to  take  his  measures.  Own  conception  still  in 
growth,  192;  Child-portrait  of  him.  Author  first  heard 
of  him  when  a  boy  at  school;  later,  more  distinct  notions 
and  experiences,  193-196;  Raised  up  by  Providence  for 
something  great?  196-197;  Personal  qualities:  Equipment 
.  .  .  Religion,  197-201;  Difficulties  of  his  post,  201-203; 
British  opposition  to  him,  203-204;  Still  fronting  manlike 
with  his  People,  204-205;  German  loyalty  to  Kaiser, 
Kaiser-ship,  205-206;  German  and  British  Kaiser-a-King- 
ships.  Constitutional  Monarchy,  206-207;  Is  the  lot  of  a 
British  King  easy?  Virtues  needed  in  a  British  King? 
The  quality  which  is  needed :  Discretion,  207-210 ;  The  Un- 
offending Majesty  of  Britain,  210-211 ;  What  his  Discretion 
saves  him  from,  211-213 ;  Necessity  of  Sovereignty  in  a 
Nation,  213-215;  Divine  subordination  and  world's  opposi- 
tion to  it,  215-218 ;  Real  and  Mock  Kings,  Their  Peers  and 
their  Artists,  etc.,  218-220;  King:  President.  American 
President,  220-221 ;  All  importance  of  the  Way  to  Power, 
221-224. 


2b.     The  Liberal  Ministry 

Author  belongs  to  no  Party.  Comparisons  of  Liberal 
and  Tory,  224-227;  The  Liberal  Ministry:  Faculty  with- 
out True  Faith,  227-230;  Asquith,  230-234;  Lloyd-George, 
234-235;  Churchill,  235;  Sir  E.  Grey,  236-238;  Emer- 
gence as  United  Ministry:  Asquith  Chief,  238-240;  Do- 
mestic Campaigns,  240-241 ;  Opposition  they  met,  241-242 ; 
Raised  up  by  Providence?  and  for  what?  242;  They  were 
Causers  of  the  War,  242-247 ;  Incidental  remarks  re  con- 
duct in  War:  Energetic  prosecution  of  it.    Would  stop  at 


336  SUMMARIES 

nothing  in  a  pinch.  Free  Parliament's  drift  toward  a 
Convention  of  Tyranny.  Censorship,  247-250;  Practice 
of  flouting  other  countries'  Governments.  Superstition, 
250-252;  How  these  Men  rose  to  Power.  Greatest  of 
Tragedies,  this,  of  Worthy  Turning  to  folly  and  crime, 
252-254. 

2c.    Carlyle 

Democracy  issue  in  War,  254;  The  British  not  now  act- 
ing in  Ignorance  but  in  Defiance,  255-258;  Significance 
of  Carlyle 's  having  written  so  much  upon  Germany,  258- 
262. 


3.    Mendacity  Versus  Veracity 

British  Religion:  Elsewhere  written  of.  Author's  con- 
fession of  faith,  Carlyle 's  ditto,  262-265;  British  Religion 
beggars  description.  A  fountain  of  death.  Cabinet  Min- 
isters' primary  perversion,  265-268;  Misreading  of  Car- 
lyle, 268;  Mendacity:  Defined.  British  saturation  with, 
268-271;  Veracity:  Defined.  Are  the  Germans  veracious? 
271-273;  German  Literature  of  Goethe's  epoch,  273-275; 
Receptions  Goethe  and  Carlyle  met,  275-278;  Vital  ques- 
tion for  Germany:  How  is  it  with  her  religious  faith? 
German  veracity.  No  nation  of  Saints,  278-282 ;  Veracity : 
Mendacity:  The  eternal  quarrel.  Brito-German  arbitra- 
ment, 282-283. 

3a.     Common  Guilt  of  People 

How  completely  guilt  is  shared  by  British  People  with 
their  government.  Always  is,  but  especially  so  here,  283- 
288;  Where  this  is  true  the  Punishment  will  fall  on  the 


SUMMARIES  337 

People,  288-290;  New  Age  not  to  be  of.    Butter,  harder 
than  Steel,  290-295. 

3b.     Dubieties  and  Certainties 

In  the  main,  Certainty  in  regard  to  British,  Dubiety  in 
regard  to  German;  how  and  why,  295-299. 

vn.    issues 

Issue  of  War  in  Sense  of  Who  Wins 

British  confidence  of  winning,  303-307;  Other  Confi- 
dences, 307-309;  Effect  of  a  Consensus  in  rendering  the 
Better  comparatively  ineffectual,  309-312;  Territorial 
changes  hoped  for  by  British,  etc.  Alsace-Lorraine.  Po- 
land, 312-313;  Belgium,  313-315;  German  Aggression! 
And  the  egging  on  others  to  wars  of  conquest.  Pace  on  it, 
315-316;  World's  copy  of  British  Mendacity,  316;  Who 
was  to  blame  for  the  War?  316-318;  Salvo  jure  tertii,  318; 
The  things  Britain  cherishes,  Issues  she  desires,  319-320. 

Things  at  Issue  in  the  War 

Brito-German  Arbitrament,  320-322;  Democracy,  323- 
325 ;  Mendacity  versus  Veracity,  325. 

The  Effect  of  War's  Results  Upon  the  Things  at  Issue 

With  Germany  victorious.  With  a  draw.  With  com- 
bination successful,  325-327 ;  Last  word,  327. 


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